“ Man is love, peace, joy and truth. Man is but the
reflection of God” says Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Then why should
man suffer? It is because he is enveloped in maya or illusion otherwise called ignorance. The
inner enemies are a stumbling block to his progress and self realization. Life
is not a bed of roses, it is a bed of thorns, people say. But it is in our
hands to make it worth living. We are the architects of our own destiny. We
should have a positive perspective and should not become gloomy and
pessimistic. This life of ours,” Samsara”, a
shoreless sea, is in a cycle of
birth and death. It is an eternal cycle from which we cannot escape. Knowing full well the vicissitudes of such an
existence we have to seek steps to make our lives as happy as possible.
What exactly is
happiness? Does it mean having a good wife, children, property and all the
modern necessities of life? But we find
many who in spite of having these amenities are not happy. These modern amenities and luxuries are generally
confused with Real HAPPINESS. These are only pleasures that one enjoys for the
time being. “ Happiness of your life
depends upon the quality of your thoughts!” says Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Man
suffers mainly because of his desires. According to Swami “ Desire is storm,
greed is whirlpool, pride is precipice, attachment is avalanche and ego is
volcano. Discard this and you will be liberated.” Real happiness does not
relate to the physical satisfaction of the senses. It is related to the soul
and has to be everlasting and eternal. Modern facilities just satisfy our
senses temporarily. Hence to remain happy one has to control his senses and put
a ceiling on his desires!
Contentment is
another requisite for perfect happiness. Hankering after pleasures endlessly
makes life miserable. Man should be satisfied with what God has given.
Unfortunately, there is no contentment in man. He is too ambitious to succeed
in his efforts and blames God for his failure! It is said in the Neeti Sasthra
that a brahmin is undone if he is not contented with what he has! But a king is
undone if he is contented! If one leads a life within his limits he shall be
happy. Man has to develop the qualities of Viveka or discrimination between the
good and the evil, the right and the wrong, the eternal and the transitory. Otherwise
his life will be unhappy. He will take wrong decisions and suffer. Vairagya or
lack of interest in worldly things is also essential. Man has to cultivate
dispassion and non involvement in mundane affairs. Too much of attachment on
anything is dangerous. You have to discharge your responsibility up to a point
only. Not more, not less!
Other tenets
that make man happy are love, selfless service or nishkama karma—service
without reward and compassion to all creatures in the world. “Compassion”, says
Swami, “ is the reflection of love; love is energy; love is power; love is
bliss; love is light; love is God. “ Sage Vyasa says “ paropa karartha midam
sareeram”- This body is for helping others. The quintessence of his 18 Puranas
is the saying: “Paropakaraya punyaya papaya para peedanam” Helping others is
punya, holy deed, hurting others is sin or papa. By resorting to these
principles, man derives total satisfaction of the soul which is real happiness.
Thus man develops spirituality and
recognizes the self same soul manifest in every living creature in the
universe!
The atma or
the soul embedded in our body is “ ananda swarupa” the embodiment of bliss or ananda. The purpose of man is to
enjoy this real and eternal happiness! How can he do it? It is through a
continuous process of meditation and concentration on the Divine. This will
lead to what we call Self Realization—a firm belief that we are nothing but the
atma or soul---blissful, eternal, indestructible, omnipresent and omnipotent as
the great Sankara calls it ‘ Chidananda rupa Sivoham, Sivoham’ Like the ants
that are attracted to honey are merged into it and the firefly attracted to
light falls into it, the individual soul has to merge into the Absolute soul or
Paramatma that is eternal bliss or ananda!
“ Anando
Brahmeti vyajanath” says the Taittiriya Upanishad! Ananda—Bliss-real Happiness
is Brahman itself! Bhrigu, son of God Varuna wants to know the Brahman and is
directed to perform tapas or penance. He mistakes annam-food, prana-
breath,manas-mind, vignana-knowledge for Brahman and finally realizes that
ananda—bliss as the Brahman! Hence material satisfaction and worldly pleasures
cannot constitute happiness! Real Happiness is spiritual and everlasting!
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