Skip to main content

HAPPINESS WITHOUT REASONS

Everyday there is a different reason for not being happy. Someday, it is because someone hurt us and we keep thinking about it, someday our health is not good. Someday it's simply because we are not in a mood. Someday, it's because a plan of ours didn't work out....and the list goes on and on. Very rarely are we happy.

All these reasons are valid and true. But the question is 'when will there be a day when the mind will offer no reasons to be happy?' Material world is a place of continuous drama and happenings, and the mind knows how to perfectly en-cash on it. Even if all our problems went away, will we be happy? A new set of problems will come or even if there are no further problems, the mind will make one. After all it's expert at it - creating problems where none exists. 



Happiness, joy, peace or love are unconditional, which means that they are not dependent on any conditions. Waiting for the perfect condition to be happy or peaceful is a great trap. One of the keys to happiness is to learn to see these reasons not as reasons but as excuses we give ourselves not to be happy. Our problems are not the real problems, our excuses are the real problems. These excuses are precisely what is coming between us and true joy.

When we say - I can't be happy because of 'so and so reason', is it really that we don't have the power to be happy despite that problem. Let's analyse this. What if someone held a gun on our head and told us, "just be happy, stop cribbing or I will shoot you!"  What will we do? Remember, our reasons are still there as it is. Will we be able to be happy? 100%, we will be happy irrespective of all our reasons. Why? Because our life is at stake.

Two points from this example. 
  1. We always have the power to be happy even when we think otherwise.
  2. ‎Many times we are not happy because we don't see it as very important or as important as life for us. It's not our number one priority.

Another justification we give ourselves for not being happy is - "if someone else would have been in my situation, he or she would have also been miserable, he or she would have behaved in similar ways." This is not true. There have been many people with more difficult issues and complications than us but who still manage to be happy and peaceful. Srimad Bhagvatam has the example of the devotee-child, Prahlad who was tortured so much by his father but still managed to fully focus on his Bhakti and be perfectly peaceful. We might say "He was from a different Yuga. It was easier for him". But we have contemporary examples of so many people who in spite of great challenges still chose to be happy.

Mind always makes exceptions. It will justify our situation by saying, "I am different, my situation is unique. My problem is unique". Just see we find identity in our problems too. If we feel we are special because of our problems, if we make an identity of our problems, how we will we ever give them up.

Even if all our reasons are valid, the question at the end of the day is do we want to be left with 'valid reasons' or 'happiness'. The ball is in our court...

- Achyut Gopal Das

P.S - This article can also apply to spiritual life or japa in particular. The principles remain the same. Just replace the word 'Happiness' with 'Bhakti' or 'Japa'.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GIVING UP PETTINESS to EXPERIENCE PRETTINESS

"The process of Krishna consciousness will empower us when we empower it." The other day as I was taking a bath, the plastic bucket I was using, slipped and cracked. A piece from the rim of the bucket broke off and cut my finger. As I was waiting for the bucket to refill with water, I noticed that even after a long time the bucket wasn't filling up. It's at that time, I noticed a "not so apparent" crack at the bottom of the bucket which was causing all the water to leak out. I drew a lesson from this incident which is applicable to my spiritual life. SEALING THE LEAKS The process of spiritual life or Krishna consciousness which includes the nine fold limbs beginning with Shravanam (hearing) and Kirtanam (chanting) is like filling the container - the vessel of our hearts. For the vessel of our hearts to fill up, it should be leak free. If the container is faulty and contains many holes, the best of content, in the best of quantity will not help it fill. Ana...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHANGE OF HEART

In today's world, we are blessed to be surrounded by so much knowledge. In fact we are almost swimming in an ocean of knowledge. We have the best of spiritual books, best of the speakers who share deep wisdom still we feel there has been 'no' or 'very minimal' tangible transformation in our lives. Why? This could be one reason...We somehow inadvertently believe that just having access to knowledge will guarantee us success in spiritual life. But one may argue, Is knowledge not sufficient! True, knowledge is the first step to success. But it's not the only step. People say knowledge is power, but it is only potential power, latent power. Applied knowledge is power. Only when knowledge is applied in our lives can true transformation begin.  That means we need to put some internal effort to realise the knowledge. It's not an automatic process. There's a difference between theoretical realisation and actual, true realisation. Theoretical ...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHANGING THE WORLD FOR ONE PERSON

To reach our ashram at Chodan island, we need to cross the Mandovi river by the government run ferry service. As the ferry vessel was docking the other night, it scooped a tiny little fish out of the water onto the ground. The tiny fish was flapping desperately to live. I somehow managed to put the fish back into the river. The fish was happy to have got to live more and I was happy to be of some help to this small friend. I remembered a quote I had read long ago - "Helping one person might not change the world, but it could change the world for one person." How true it is. Whenever we get opportunities to be of help to someone, we should immediately grab it and try to do the best we can. Who knows, we may just save a life. Whenever, the ferryboat docks I try to be alert to look out for any fish that needs my help. Whether you travel in ferry or not, remember, there are always "fishes" out there who will need your help. Be watchful, be helpful. - Achyut Gopal Das
Post a Comment
Read more