Search for Happiness - Shri Maharaj Ji
|
|
|
|
Every Soul is Searching for Happiness
Whether knowingly or unknowingly, every soul in this
world strives unceasingly for happiness, and his quest
to find happiness will continue until he attains it. The word
“happiness” is a synonym of God. You may call God happiness, God, Khuda, Allah,
or any other name - these words all have the same meaning.
आनन्दो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् ।
"ānandō brahmēti vyajānāt"
"ānandō brahmēti vyajānāt"
Since He himself is happiness, not right to say 'God is the abode of happiness.' This statement means that God is like a vessel that contains happiness. aka the entity happiness come to reside in Him from somewhere else. But the Vedas says "He is happiness."
रसो वै स: ।
"raso vai saḥ" Vedas
"raso vai saḥ" Vedas
All the living beings, human, animals, insects, trees, celestial Gods or demons etc, are the inseparable part of God, hence every one naturally quest for happiness. Every fraction naturally desires for it’s origin and by attaining that becomes complete. Although we do not know, but the other name of that happiness is God. All the following verses assert the same.
अंशो नाना व्यपदेशात् ।
"aṃśo nānā vyapadeśāt" Vedanta
"aṃśo nānā vyapadeśāt" Vedanta
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः ।
"mamaivānśō jīvalōkē jīvabhūtaḥ sanātana" Bhagavad Gītā
ईश्वर अंश जीव अविनाशी, चेतन अमल सहज सुख राशी । रामायण
"īśvara aṃśa jīva avināśī, cetana amala sahaja sukha rāśī" Ramayan
"mamaivānśō jīvalōkē jīvabhūtaḥ sanātana" Bhagavad Gītā
ईश्वर अंश जीव अविनाशी, चेतन अमल सहज सुख राशी । रामायण
"īśvara aṃśa jīva avināśī, cetana amala sahaja sukha rāśī" Ramayan
We are searching happiness since eternity yet we could not attain so far, because the area of search is mistaken. In other words instead of searching happiness in God, we are searching in the world of Maya, where there is no trace of Happiness. We often get transient and illusive happiness of senses from the world and ignorantly consider it as our own happiness. The Vedas say,
यो वै भूमा तत् सुखम् ।
"yō vai bhūmā tat sukham"
"yō vai bhūmā tat sukham"
That happiness which is unlimited and everlasting is truly happiness. Transitory pleasure of the senses, is not happiness. That is only an illusion of happiness.
Worldly happiness is limited, since beyond it a greater happiness always exists, which keeps us constantly dissatisfied. And whatever happiness we experience, fluctuates and eventually ends. For example, if you hug your mother after a long separation, the first time gives you the greatest happiness, the second time this happiness diminishes slightly, the third time it diminishes even more and by the fourth time it ends. This is our daily experience.
So there are two flaws in the worldly happiness, first it is limited and second it does not last forever. And we desire for happiness that is unlimited and lasts forever. Such happiness is Shri Krishna.
The happiness of the entire cosmic creation, from this world (earth) to the abode of Creator Brahma, is temporary due to its material nature. So, to achieve everlasting true happiness, one has to take shelter at the lotus feet of Shri Krishna only. We do not need to pay anything at all to get the grace of Shri Krishna. All what we have to do is ask earnestly for His grace and He will bestow unlimited, everlasting divine happiness immediately.
However, there should not be any craftiness, deceit or lack of sincerity in your request. Ask innocently and earnestly like an infant, who is completely surrendered to his mother and just cries to be fed or to receive any other help. A mother runs towards her child to fulfill his need. That is complete surrender. Similarly, we need to cry in front of Shri Krishna and ask for that happiness with a firm belief that only He will fulfill our desire. That is all that needs to be done.
Our lack of this faith has caused us to have a firmly established misapprehension that, "There is happiness in this world, which I will attain one day." This belief alone has caused us to be deluded since eternity. For this reason also we do not want to accept that Shri Krishna is the only source of happiness. Constantly revising this knowledge may expel this delusion and inspire your faith in God.
Worldly happiness is limited, since beyond it a greater happiness always exists, which keeps us constantly dissatisfied. And whatever happiness we experience, fluctuates and eventually ends. For example, if you hug your mother after a long separation, the first time gives you the greatest happiness, the second time this happiness diminishes slightly, the third time it diminishes even more and by the fourth time it ends. This is our daily experience.
So there are two flaws in the worldly happiness, first it is limited and second it does not last forever. And we desire for happiness that is unlimited and lasts forever. Such happiness is Shri Krishna.
The happiness of the entire cosmic creation, from this world (earth) to the abode of Creator Brahma, is temporary due to its material nature. So, to achieve everlasting true happiness, one has to take shelter at the lotus feet of Shri Krishna only. We do not need to pay anything at all to get the grace of Shri Krishna. All what we have to do is ask earnestly for His grace and He will bestow unlimited, everlasting divine happiness immediately.
However, there should not be any craftiness, deceit or lack of sincerity in your request. Ask innocently and earnestly like an infant, who is completely surrendered to his mother and just cries to be fed or to receive any other help. A mother runs towards her child to fulfill his need. That is complete surrender. Similarly, we need to cry in front of Shri Krishna and ask for that happiness with a firm belief that only He will fulfill our desire. That is all that needs to be done.
Our lack of this faith has caused us to have a firmly established misapprehension that, "There is happiness in this world, which I will attain one day." This belief alone has caused us to be deluded since eternity. For this reason also we do not want to accept that Shri Krishna is the only source of happiness. Constantly revising this knowledge may expel this delusion and inspire your faith in God.
अभ्यास वैराग्याभाम् तन्निरोधः ।
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ।।
"Abhyāsa vairāgyābhām tannirōdhaḥ,
Abhyāsēna tu kauntēya vairāgyēṇa ca gr̥hyatē" Bhagavad Gītā
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ।।
"Abhyāsa vairāgyābhām tannirōdhaḥ,
Abhyāsēna tu kauntēya vairāgyēṇa ca gr̥hyatē" Bhagavad Gītā
Regular practice may result in faith in God and elimination of delusion, which will create natural detachment from the world. Thus, eventually the mind will become attached to God and attain happiness. This is also called the sadhana to accomplish the ultimate goal of life - happiness.
An aspirant starts his practice from this point and gradually to the extent he becomes detached from the world, he becomes attached to God, and feels great love and longing for God when he practices devotional remembrance. After this, he reaches a more advance stage of love/devotion called bhav bhakti. At the completion of this stage, the aspirant's Guru or Spiritual Master infuses divine love (prem) in the heart of the aspirant. There are seven more ecstatic levels of divine bliss. One can reach up to bhavavesh bhakti, very few souls reach the highest level of happiness, mahabhav.
So it is our first and foremost duty to realize the nature of material happiness and keep revising this understanding, then start practicing devotion under the guidance of an true Guru, through whose grace the ultimate attainment of true happiness and divine love could be attained.
An aspirant starts his practice from this point and gradually to the extent he becomes detached from the world, he becomes attached to God, and feels great love and longing for God when he practices devotional remembrance. After this, he reaches a more advance stage of love/devotion called bhav bhakti. At the completion of this stage, the aspirant's Guru or Spiritual Master infuses divine love (prem) in the heart of the aspirant. There are seven more ecstatic levels of divine bliss. One can reach up to bhavavesh bhakti, very few souls reach the highest level of happiness, mahabhav.
So it is our first and foremost duty to realize the nature of material happiness and keep revising this understanding, then start practicing devotion under the guidance of an true Guru, through whose grace the ultimate attainment of true happiness and divine love could be attained.
