The One Thing You Never Wanted

“You scattered yourself chasing everything — success, peace, impact, wisdom — and became nothing but exhausted noise. Had you wanted one thing with all your being, even silence would’ve served you.”

Setting: A quiet, cracked mud hut, somewhere far from network towers. The walls breathe. The floor is clean but uneven. Time doesn’t tick here; it rustles in leaves and woodsmoke.

Inside sit five well-dressed, tired-eyed achievers from the city, each with a fancy water bottle, a smartwatch, and a thousand notifications sleeping in their phones. Facing them, barefoot and calm, is Madhukar, the hermit. His eyes gleam with silence.

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Ananya (startup founder): I run three companies, all profitable. But I feel like I’m constantly starting and never arriving. It’s like I’m building stairs that go nowhere.

Madhukar: That’s because you’re not building stairs. You’re building slides in opposite directions.

Rohit (corporate leader with side hustles): I’m trying to balance work, my podcast, angel investing, and now a parenting course. But I’m exhausted.

Madhukar: You’re not balancing. You’re juggling knives on a treadmill.

Shaheen (activist): I’m trying to make an impact. Women's rights, education, food justice—they all matter!

Madhukar: Yes. So do seeds. But throw too many at once, and none will sprout.

Karan (fitness coach): I’m certified in everything: HIIT, yoga, nutrition, breathwork. Clients love me. But I hate waking up.

Madhukar: Because your muscles grew. But your meaning did not.

Mehul (spiritual influencer): I read all the masters. Ramana, Eckhart, Gita, Lao Tzu. I even post daily wisdom. But my mind won’t shut up.

Madhukar: You read like a thief, not a lover. No wonder nothing stays.

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Ananya: So what’s the answer? Should we quit everything?

Madhukar: No. You must quit nothing. But you must want one thing.

Shaheen: Just one?

Madhukar: Yes. One thing. Fully. Utterly. Want peace? Then let everything else burn. Want impact? Then stop scattering. Want truth? Then stop collecting slogans.

Mehul: But what if we want many things?

Madhukar: Then you get none. The mind that wants many is a tourist. The one that wants one thing is a pilgrim.

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Rohit: But we were taught to multitask, diversify, hedge our risks.

Madhukar: That’s what bankers do. Not beings.

Ananya: Then why does the world reward the scatterers?

Madhukar: Because the world is a casino. It rewards noise. But life… life rewards clarity.

Karan: So you’re saying we’re failing not because we do little, but because we do too much?

Madhukar: You’re failing because you’re not doing one thing long enough to fail well.

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Mehul (quietly): So what was your one thing?

Madhukar: To stop lying to myself.

Silence. It fills the room like incense.

Madhukar (gently): Wanting one thing is painful. It means watching other dreams die. But that death gives birth to truth. And truth has no burnout.

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The group says nothing. For the first time, they aren’t performing. No apps, no content, no goals. Just a strange ache inside their chest—the ache of realignment.

Somewhere outside, a bird sings. One note. Repeated. Pure.

Madhukar smiles.

Madhukar: Even the bird wants one thing.

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