Pranam
1 True happiness is *enjoying your own company and living in peace and
harmony with your body, mind and soul*. To be truly happy, you don't need
other people or material things. Happiness is the consequence of personal
effort and living a life of purpose. Is there true happiness? Today
happiness is viewed as a mood, a feeling. ... But *true happiness is the
accumulation of soul-sustaining relationships*. While feeling happy may
differ from day to day, if the overall direction of your life has been in
cultivating good relations, then you can be happy in the deeper and more
permanent sense.
2 TRUE HAPPINESS
According to Hinduism, happiness in human life arises mainly from one's own
actions, past life karma, actions of gods and others, and the grace of God.
In Hindu scriptures we find references to mainly three types of happiness
as stated below.
1. Physical (bhautika) happiness, or sukham, which arises from comforts
of life, sensual enjoyment, and bodily pleasures.
2. Mental (manasika) happiness, or anandam, which arises from a sense of
fulfilment and freedom from worries, afflictions, and anxieties.
3. Spiritual (adhyatmika) happiness, or atmanandam, which arises from
freedom from the cycle of births and deaths, and union with Self.
According to Hinduism, an embodied being's ultimate purpose is enjoyment of
supreme bliss as a free soul (mukta) in the highest heaven. Enjoyment is
also the basis of happiness upon earth. However, in mortal life happiness
should not be pursued for happiness's sake alone, because mere pursuit of
happiness in a bound state (baddha) leads to attachment (Yogasutras 2.7),
and bondage. It should be pursued as part of a way of life in which
liberation or union with the Self should be the highest goal. Human beings
can temporarily secure happiness upon earth by doing their duties, or
permanently in the highest heaven by achieving liberation.
An intermediary approach is to prolong happiness by doing good karmas and
going to the ancestral heaven where souls can stay for longer periods than
upon earth. However, such happiness would not last forever, because when
their good karma is exhausted souls have to return to the earth and take
another birth to continue their existence. The best strategy therefore is
to secure happiness here, and liberation hereafter. In the following
discussion we will examine how Hinduism expects each practitioner to
achieve this rather difficult goal. The impediments to peace and happiness
are egoism (aham), ignorance (avidya), impurities (malas), delusion (maya),
past actions (karma), desires (kama) and attachments (pasas).
*A structured approach to happiness in the moral world*
To secure happiness here in mortal life, Hinduism prescribes a holistic
method, which takes into consideration both the material and spiritual
needs of human beings. It recognizes four chief aims of human life, called
purusharthas, by pursuing which human beings can experience physical,
mental, and spiritual happiness. They are also called the four chief
purposes (purusharthas) of existence, because they are also chosen by God
(Purusha) himself for his own enjoyment. Broadly speaking, in a secular
sense, they refer to the pursuit of morality, prosperity, enjoyment, and
spirituality. Specifically, in a religious sense, they refer to religious
and moral duty (dharma), wealth (artha), conjugal bliss (kama) and
liberation (moksha).
Let us examine how they contribute to our happiness. By pursuing dharma,
you enjoy name and fame, social status, and respect in society. By pursuing
wealth you enjoy the comforts of life, status in society, and the
satisfaction of fulfilling your obligations to family and society. By
pursuing kama (sex) you enjoy conjugal bliss, companionship with your
spouse, family life, and the happiness of having children, relations, and
continuation of family lineage. Finally, pursuing liberation, you can
secure the ultimate happiness of being absolutely and eternally free from
all obligations. For a human being, the four aims are the best means to
secure happiness upon earth and lay a firm foundation for future happiness
in the world of Brahman, the highest Self.
Hindu scriptures further suggest that a person has better chances of
securing happiness and enjoying life if he pursues these four aims
according to the four phases of human life, called ashramas, during which
he has to fulfil the duties and obligations that are specific to each of
them. The four phases of human life are, brahmacharya, grihasta,
vanaprastha, and sanyasa. In Brahmacharya, which corresponds to childhood
and young age, a person has to study the Vedas and learn about his duties
and responsibilities (dharma), apart from the knowledge of the Self and the
Supreme Self. In Grihasta, which corresponds to adult life, he has to
perform his obligatory duties (dharma) and earn wealth (artha) to ensure
the welfare, order and regularity of his family and society. In
Vanaprastha, which corresponds to old age, he has to retire into seclusion
and contemplate upon his experiential wisdom (dharma) and the ultimate
purpose of human life (liberation). In Sanyasa, which corresponds to the
last phase of human life, he has to renounce everything, including his
knowledge of the scriptures (dharma), and work for his liberation (moksha).
In each of these stages it is possible to experience peace and happiness by
following the injunctions specified in the scriptures. If he follows them
strictly, at the end of the journey he is bound to become liberated and
enter the world of bliss.
*Eternal happiness through complete freedom*
True enjoyment and happiness in life are not possible, unless it is secured
on a lasting basis. Like Buddhism, Hinduism also clearly and emphatically
recognizes the suffering that is inherent to earthly life and traces its
root cause to desire only. Beings are unhappy because they are bound to
impermanent things and cannot easily escape from their attraction and
aversion to them. Because they are driven by their desire for impermanent
things, and pairs of opposites, their happiness upon earth remains
temporary and elusive. No one is free from suffering because of
impermanence, which manifests in our lives as loss, union, aging, sickness,
decay, death, and destruction.
Duality is another important cause. We experience unhappiness, because of
union and separation, or attraction and aversion to the objects and
conditions that we like or dislike. We are happy when we are with those
that we like, or unhappy when we are with those that we dislike. One may
experience temporary happiness when we pursue sense objects. However, it is
a trap, since the pursuit of objects results in attachment. From attachment
arise karma, delusion, and bondage, which aggravate our suffering and make
our chances of enjoying life increasingly difficult.
Thus, chasing happiness upon earth by worldly means is like chasing a
mirage. To escape from this predicament, one should subordinate earthly
happiness to spiritual happiness and, earthly goals to spiritual goals, and
aim for permanent happiness, which can be secured only when a being is
completely free from all attachments, and the limitations of mortal life.
True happiness of the divine kind arises not from having things or
fulfilling our desires, but by restraining our minds and bodies, and
becoming free from our dependence upon them. When we are free from all
attachments, from the impurity of maya and desires, we return to our soul's
essential nature, which is permanent bliss. Reaching this state is called
liberation, which one can achieve even when one is alive upon earth.
Thus, in Hinduism you will find that a very complex thought process is
associated with the idea of happiness. To secure peace and happiness on a
lasting basis you must secure freedom from the afflictions of the mind and
body. You should aim for happiness of the higher kind, rather than the
baser kind that arises purely from physical and sexual pleasures. You can
achieve it either ritually by securing the help of gods, or spiritually
with the practice of yoga. Both are ideal means. However, of them the
latter is superior since it alone can permanently deliver you from the
misery of life and the cycle of births and deaths.
*Three types of happiness*
Just as everything in creation is coloured by the gunas, {Guna karma
vibagha:} our happiness upon earth is also influenced by our *predominant
nature.{Satva, Rajas and Thamasa} * According to the predominance of the
gunas, we can identify three types of happiness.
1. Sattvic happiness, which arises from moral and mental purity, and from
being good and doing good. This also corresponds to spiritual happiness.
2. Rajasic happiness, which arises from fulfilling your desires, and
securing power, position, name and fame, etc. This corresponded to mental
happiness.
3. Tamasic happiness, which arises from bodily pleasures and base
desires. This corresponds to physical happiness.
While sattvic happiness is the best of the three, it does not by itself
guarantee liberation or true enjoyment. All types of happiness that arise
from fulfilling desires and likes and dislikes are binding and have
consequences. True happiness is freedom from the compulsion to be happy,
dualities, and conditionality. It should arise in one as a reflection of
the soul in the pure consciousness. ( B G 18th chap)
*Transcendental happiness*
Both the individual soul in the microcosm and the Supreme Self in the
macrocosm represent the transcendental realities in creation. They are also
the ultimate and highest enjoyers of all manifestation. The very aim of
creation is their enjoyment. The individual soul is the ultimate enjoyer in
the body of a being, and the Brahman is the highest enjoyer in the body of
the universe. The worlds and beings exist for the enjoyment of Brahman, who
is both the enjoyer and the enjoyed in duality. His enjoyment comes not
from the compulsion to perform actions out of desires but from being an
observer of the events that manifest or project from his will. Being
complete and full, His enjoyment is not dependent upon fulfillment or the
externalities that complement our lives. His very nature is bliss, which is
billions of times more intense than any happiness which mortal beings
experience upon earth. Physical happiness (sukham), which we mentioned
before pales in comparison to mental happiness (harsham or ullhasam), and
mental happiness pales in comparison to spiritual happiness (brahmanandam).
The supreme state of happiness, which is the essential nature of God, can
be reached by several means by overcoming the obstacles which we stated
previously, namely egoism, desires, delusion, ignorance, etc. In other
words, happiness is a natural consequence of inner transformation and
self-purification. Of the various methods prescribed to accomplish it, the
following are considered the most reliable, practical, and spiritual. 1
Overcoming desires. 2 divine qualities. 3 Devotion to God. 4 Cultivating
purity (sattva). 5 Becoming absorbed in the Self. SAT CHIT ANANDAM
(COURTESY JV) KR IRS 231221
On Thu, 23 Dec 2021 at 07:26, Markendeya Yeddanapudi <
markandeya101...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> --
> *Mar**The Abodes of Happiness and Peace*
>
>
>
> *One gets happiness and peace only in nature. No one can become happy in
> terrible buzzle,in factories, in markets etc,where nature gets eliminated
> to create space for workshops, shops etc. And in the name of development,
> lakhs of trees are being cut, to lay big roads, to build factories and
> buildings, creating horrible concrete Jungles, where there is no breathe
> based communication, among the organisms, because the Biosphere itself gets
> killed.*
>
> *In the name of urbanization and industrialization, we are eliminating the
> Biosphere or just killing nature, or eliminating the very possibility for
> happiness. The area of happiness on earth is getting reduced continuously.
> The areas without Biosphere are hotbeds of tension,
> anger,restlessness,crime,terrorism,robber politicians…*
>
> *When the Biosphere becomes rare, happiness simply vanishes. As the
> Biosphere is based on ecological links, the extinction of life forms,
> becomes routine, till most life forms vanish. In the case of Humans, the
> economically well of, may escape from extinction temporarily, but they too
> join the overpopulation of the next world.*
>
> *This disease is simply economics, which ignores ecology and tries to
> become part of Newtonian Mechanics. We ignore the fundamental fact, that
> machines have no emotions and feelings, and all communication is mainly
> emotional and not mechanical.*
>
> *YM*
>
>
>
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