By Victor Kannan
(Sahaj Marg Abhyasi and SRCM Preceptor)
“If you want to have infinite happiness, infinite bliss, then minimise your desires, from more and more to less and less and finally to zero!” – Kamlesh Patel www.daaji.org
This is nothing new but today I got a real glimpse of unhappy people that seem to either live in the past or fantasize their future. The past, they selectively remember and the future that they have no clue of. Yet they think they have been happy in the past or they will be happier in the future if certain careers, cities, houses, cars or vacation were to be pursued.
I have come across people that show their inherent dissatisfaction with the present and start accumulating many things in the pursuit of happiness. They accumulate beyond decency - clothes, shoes, purses, cars and the like only to continue to remain unhappy. They also blame others for their unhappiness.
Yes, It is a fact that if things outside are in order, one would be comfortable. Nice shoes, clothes, air conditioned cars and plush houses would make us all comfortable. It could also make one feel proud and externally confident. People misunderstand comfort, pride and confidence for happiness. Happiness is not something guarantied by external possessions and achievements.
They forget what Neil Gaiman said “Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.”
When I was a teenager, it occurred to me that the people are unhappy because they are not willing to be happy. After perhaps 40 years I am more convinced of that observation. I think we need to cultivate the attitude and the tendency of being happy. This will come about only when we withdraw from the rat race but do the best we can in everything we are involved in; not looking for favor or praise but derive immense satisfaction in doing things right; not waiting for someone to appreciate and notice but noticing and appreciating others as appropriate; it is not to become a recluse but to find joy in one’s own inner self. To be drawn to one’s own inner self quietly and calmly require certain thinking and doing.
Happiness is also to admire nature, participate in its bounty by just being one with it. Have you ever sat quietly during a starry night looking at the sky; have you ever sat on top of a hill and watched the landscape below; have you ever looked at the blue sky and wondered how deep is the blue? The human mind, consciousness and even the brain partakes the essence of nature. So, when we let ourselves be carried away by the simple mergence of ourselves with the quiet grandeur of Nature we find happiness inside. When we let ourselves be carried away by the limitlessness of the sky, the ocean and the starry night, we partake in the infinity of our own selves. When we bring joy and happiness of others, it makes us happy more than anything else we can do for ourselves.
In these lie the wonder and the joy of happiness.
(Sahaj Marg Abhyasi and SRCM Preceptor)
“If you want to have infinite happiness, infinite bliss, then minimise your desires, from more and more to less and less and finally to zero!” – Kamlesh Patel www.daaji.org
This is nothing new but today I got a real glimpse of unhappy people that seem to either live in the past or fantasize their future. The past, they selectively remember and the future that they have no clue of. Yet they think they have been happy in the past or they will be happier in the future if certain careers, cities, houses, cars or vacation were to be pursued.
I have come across people that show their inherent dissatisfaction with the present and start accumulating many things in the pursuit of happiness. They accumulate beyond decency - clothes, shoes, purses, cars and the like only to continue to remain unhappy. They also blame others for their unhappiness.
Yes, It is a fact that if things outside are in order, one would be comfortable. Nice shoes, clothes, air conditioned cars and plush houses would make us all comfortable. It could also make one feel proud and externally confident. People misunderstand comfort, pride and confidence for happiness. Happiness is not something guarantied by external possessions and achievements.
They forget what Neil Gaiman said “Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.”
When I was a teenager, it occurred to me that the people are unhappy because they are not willing to be happy. After perhaps 40 years I am more convinced of that observation. I think we need to cultivate the attitude and the tendency of being happy. This will come about only when we withdraw from the rat race but do the best we can in everything we are involved in; not looking for favor or praise but derive immense satisfaction in doing things right; not waiting for someone to appreciate and notice but noticing and appreciating others as appropriate; it is not to become a recluse but to find joy in one’s own inner self. To be drawn to one’s own inner self quietly and calmly require certain thinking and doing.
Happiness is also to admire nature, participate in its bounty by just being one with it. Have you ever sat quietly during a starry night looking at the sky; have you ever sat on top of a hill and watched the landscape below; have you ever looked at the blue sky and wondered how deep is the blue? The human mind, consciousness and even the brain partakes the essence of nature. So, when we let ourselves be carried away by the simple mergence of ourselves with the quiet grandeur of Nature we find happiness inside. When we let ourselves be carried away by the limitlessness of the sky, the ocean and the starry night, we partake in the infinity of our own selves. When we bring joy and happiness of others, it makes us happy more than anything else we can do for ourselves.
In these lie the wonder and the joy of happiness.
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