Monday, July 27, 2015

HOW TO LIVE HAPPILY



                                                                          
“ 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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