WHERE HAPPINESS COME FROM?

WHERE HAPPINESS COME FROM?

extract from the book 'Vivekachudamani'

Translated by Achyarya Pranipata ChaitanyaRevised & Edited, with an Introduction by Satinder Dhiman

The scriptures declare that all that is subject to change cannot be ultimately real and bring abiding happiness. A careful analysis of our experience regarding the objects of our desire shows that nothing that is created is permanent or stable. Everything we desire—name, fame, wealth, and success--are subject to change and consequently, sooner or later, brings misery and grief in its wake. Thus our experience tells us that hankering after what is transitory and unstable cannot bring us lasting happiness. The more we discriminate thusly the more we realize that the true abiding joy cannot be found in transient sense objects. So, we should stop running after false goods. The practice of discrimination between the real and the unreal frees us from the bondage of ignorance and delusion and thereby spares us from much existential agony.

Further analysis of our experience with getting the objects of our desires reveals that even when we seem to obtain happiness externally through the fulfillment of our desires, the real happiness actually comes from within us.

Sri Krishna Menon (aka Sri Atmanada, 1973, pp. 1-2) explains this fact as follows:

Sri Krishna Menon

Why you seek happiness? Because the urge comes from the deepest level, your real Nature. But because your sense-organs are having outward-going tendencies, you seek that happiness in the outside world. You desire an object, you obtain it, and you get the happiness that you seek. But you have never examined where that happiness comes from. If you will allow your mind to examine it in the right manner, I am sure you will find that that happiness which you suppose you derive from sense-objects is not derived from sense objects but is your real nature.

I will prove to you how it is so: If happiness were intrinsic in sense object, it must always be giving you happiness, from babyhood up till death. But that is not your experience….The object which gave you happiness in the childhood and when you were a young man, ceases to give you happiness when you grow old. Something else takes its place. Thus you find that happiness is not intrinsic in the sense-objects….Likewise, if happiness were in the mind, it must be possible for you to enjoy that happiness without the help of sense-objects, but you do not get it that way. And therefore it is not residing in the mind either.

Even when we are able to satisfy our desires, the repose we get is due to the fact that it puts us in touch with our inner calm. Real Happiness is our natural state--that is why whenever we are in pain or distress, we want to get out of the pain or stress as quickly as possible and get back to our natural state of peace and comfort. Whereas when we are happy and peaceful, we do not want that state to ever end. Another proof that happiness is innate to us or lies within us is the fact that during deep sleep—devoid of the awareness of our body, mind, senses, and external possessions—we feel deeply peaceful and happy.

Thus, happiness that we seek from outside is our real nature, something intrinsic to our very being. Sri Atmanada (1973) goes on to explain it, thusly:

When you desire an object your mind is restless and continues to be restless until you get the desired object. When the desired object is got, mind comes to rest for the time being and you get happiness. Well, that happiness, as I have already told you, is your real Nature. It shines—or, at any rate, it is shinning always, but it is taken note of—only when the mind comes to rest. Therefore it is your real nature that shines when you get a desired object. (p. 3)

AHAMKARA or egoism By Swami Sivananda

 AHAMKARA or egoism

By Swami Sivananda 

The elimination of egoism is the sole condition of Self-realisation. 

AHAMKARA or egoism is the self-arrogating principle in man. It is a Vritti or modification that arises in the mind. Patanjali Maharshi calls this by the name 'Asmita'. The same mind assumes the form of egoism when man self-arrogates himself. Ahamkara manifests first and then comes 'Mamata'.

This baneful egoism generates actions, desires and pains. It is the source for all evils. It is illusory. It deludes people. Through it is nothing, it is everything for the worldly people. It is associated with mineness.

It is the greatest enemy. If one renounces this dire Ahamkara he will be happy. The secret of renunciation is renunciation of egoism. Ahamkara has its seat in the mind. It is under the influence of egoism man commits evils and wrong actions. It is deep-rooted. Anxieties and troubles proceed from egoism. Ahamkara is a veritable disease. Pride, lust, anger, delusion, greed, jealousy, love and hatred are the attendants of Ahamkara. Ahamkara destroys our virtues and peace of mind. It spreads the snare of affection to entrap us. He who is free from egoism is very happy and peaceful. Desires multiply and expand on account of egoism. Our inveterate enemy, egoism, has spread about us the enchantments of our wives, friends, children, etc., whose spells it is hard to break. There is no enemy greater than egoism.

 An aspirant who treads the path of devotion destroys his egoism through self-surrender or Atma-Nivedana to the Lord. He say I am Thine my Lord. All is Thine. Thy will be done. He feels he is an instrument in the hands of the Lord. He dedicates all his actions and the fruits of his actions to the Lord. He feels that there is nothing but the Lord, that everything is done by the Lord, that even an atom cannot move without Him and that all live, move and have their very being in Him alone.

A Karma Yogin destroys his egoism through self-sacrifice. A Jnana Yogin kills his egoism through self-denial or self-abnegation, through Vichara and the practice of Neti-Neti - I am not this body, I am not the mind, I am not Prana, I am not the senses, and through identification with the Supreme Self by meditating on the formula, 'I am all-pervading Self or Brahman.'

May you rest in the big Infinite 'I', the pure Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman and enjoy Eternal Bliss by annihilating this little illusory 'I', the product of Maya, through self-denial or self-sacrifice or self-surrender! 

"Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise;

Be good, Do good, Be kind, Be Compassionate;

EFFORT IS NECESSARY up to the state of realization - Sri Ramana Maharshi

EFFORT IS NECESSARY up to the state of realization
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
 
Effort is necessary up to the state of 
realization. Even then the Self should
spontaneously become evident, otherwise
happiness will not be complete. Up to 
that state of spontaneity there must be
effort in some form or another.

There is a state beyond our efforts or 
effortlessness. Until it is realized 
effort is necessary. After tasting such
bliss, even once, one will repeatedly
try to regain it. Having once experienced
the bliss of peace no one wants to be out
of it or to engage in any other activity.

  ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` 
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985

LIFE DIVINE AND THE SUPREME SELF

LIFE  DIVINE  AND  THE  SUPREME  SELF

extract from  '' Self Knowledge and Self Realization'' written  by Nisargadatta Maharj

Read the book here

With heartfelt love and devotion, the devotee propitiates God; and when he is blessed with His vision and grace, he feels ever happy in His presence. The constant presence establishes a virtual identity between the two. While seeking the presence of the Supreme Soul, the Bhakta renounces all associations in his life, from the meanest to the best, and having purged his being of all associations, he automatically wins the association with the Supreme Self. One who has attained to the position of unstinted emancipation can never be disliked by others, for the people themselves are the very Self-luminous soul, though ignorant of the fact.

  In this world of immense variety, different beings are suffering from different kinds of ailments, and yet they are not prepared to give up the physical frame, even when wailing under physical and mental pain. If this be so, then men will not be so short-sighted as to avoid their savior, the enlightened soul.

  That overflowing reservoir of bliss, the beatific soul, does confer only bliss on the people by his loving light. Even the atmosphere around him heartens the suffering souls. He is like the waters of a lake that gives nourishment to the plants and trees around the brink and the grass and fields nearby. The Saint gives joy and sustaining energy to the people around him.

http://nisargadatta.org/index.html

HEAVEN IN YOUR HEART -- Sri Swami Sivananda

 HEAVEN IN YOUR HEART

          By Swami Sivananda
  
God is His Heaven.
The Heaven is in your heart.
Search for Him in your heart.
You will find Him there.
Purify your heart first.
Remove the weeds of jealousy and lust;
Withdraw the senses;
Still the mind;
Subdue the bubbling thoughts;
Silence the surging emotions.
You can meet now you Beloved.
 
  

The Seven Stages of Jnana by Swami Sivananda

The Seven Stages of Jnana

By Swami Sivananda

There are seven stages of Jnana or the seven Jnana Bhumikas.

The first stage. First, Jnana should be developed through a deep study of Atma Jnana Sastras and association with the wise and the performance of virtuous actions without any expectation of fruits. This Subheccha or good desire forms the first Bhumika or stage of Jnana. This will irrigate the mind with the waters of discrimination and protect it. There will be non-attraction or indifference to sensual objects in this stage. The first stage is the substratum of the other stages. From it the next two stages, viz., Vicharana and Tanumanasi will be reached.

The second stage (Vicharana).  Constant Atma Vichara (Atmic enquiry) forms the second stage.

The third stage is Tanumanasi. This is attained through the cultivation of special indifference to objects. The mind becomes thin like a thread. Hence the name Tanumanasi. Tanu means thread-thread-like state of mind. The third stage is also known by the name Asanga Bhavana. In the third stage, the aspirant is free from all attractions. If any one dies in the third stage, he will remain in heaven for a long time and will reincarnate on earth again as a Jnani. The above three stages can be included under the Jagrat state.

The fourth stage is Sattvapatti. This stage will destroy all Vasanas to the root. This can be included under the Svapna state. The world appears like a dream. Those who have reached the fourth stage will look upon all things of the universe with an equal eye.

The fifth stage is Asamsakti. There is perfect non-attachment to the objects of the world. There is no Upadhi or waking or sleeping in this stage. This is the Jivanmukti stage in which there is the experience of Ananda Svarupa (the Eternal Bliss of Brahman) replete with spotless Jnana. This will come under Sushupti.

The sixth stage is Padartha Bhavana. There is knowledge of Truth.

 The seventh stage is Turiya or the state of superconsciousness. This is Moksha. This is also known by the name Turiyatita. There are no Sankalpas. All the Gunas disappear. This is above the reach of mind and speech.

The seventh stage. Disembodied salvation (Videhamukti) is attained in the seventh stage.

Remaining in the certitude of Atman, without desires, and with an equal vision over all, having completely eradicated all complications of differentiations of 'I' or 'he,' existence or non-existence, is Turiya.

That which is of the nature of bliss with intelligence is called Turiya. The sage in this stage is completely divested of all Vasanas. He is free from all ideas of difference and non-difference, 'I' and 'not-I,' being and non-being.

The exalted stage of the seventh is the isolation or Moksha which is partless, equal in all, immaculate, beneficent, quiescent and the pure Turiya. The seventh stage, free from all objects and replete with bliss, is stated by some to be Turiyatita seat of Moksha, which is Chit itself. The seventh stage is above the reach of the mind, self-shining and of the nature of Sat. In the seventh stage, the disembodied salvation is attained. It is homogeneous. It is indescribable; it is beyond the power of speech.

Aspects of Jnana Sadhana

A Sadhaka should reflect and meditate. Sravana is hearing of Srutis, Manana is thinking and reflecting, Nididhyasana is constant and profound meditation. Then comes Atma-Sakshatkara or direct realisation.

This is also known as Brahmanubhava or Aparokshanubhuti. Then all doubts and delusions melt away. The knot of ignorance (Hridaya Granthi) is cut asunder. All Karmas (Sanchita and Prarabdha) are destroyed. The Jnani attains Sat-Chit-Ananda state. He is freed from the wheel of Samsara, from births and deaths with its concomitant evils.

The student in the path of Jnana Yoga repeats Om or Soham or Sivoham or Aham Brahma Asmi or Om Tat Sat and associates the ideas of Purity, Perfection, Infinity, Eternity, Immortality, Sat-Chit-Ananda along with the repetition of the above formula.