by
H.H. Sri Swami Chidananda
World President
The Divine Life Society
Happiness Is an Experience
Possession of Objects Means No Happiness
Happiness � A Lost Treasure
The Limited Utility of Sense Objects
Time-tested Aids to Happiness
Happiness seems to have been the quest of man on earth ever since creation began, but this quest does not yet seem to have ended. Happiness is the quest of the whole world, but at the same time the despair of all of us. There does not seem to be any finding of it. Happiness seems to lie far in the future, on the distant horizon as it were, where, like the horizon, it recedes out of sight the very moment you think it attainable. After several thousand years of known history, modern man seems to be as far away from the actual experience of happiness as his remote ancestors. Yet, there is no doubt that during this time, tremendous efforts have been made to attain it. Throughout the centuries, man has striven, often tirelessly, to create countless devices to fill his external life with pleasures. But all these devices have failed to serve the exact purpose. For, if man is asked the question, "Are you really happy?" hardly anyone will give a forthright and direct answer, "Yes, I am!" Almost everyone will begin, instead, with "Er, Oh, I think so..." or "Perhaps..." or "May be not quite..." or "I can�t exactly say..." Anything but a definite affirmative!
If people have been searching for happiness for centuries and have not found it still, does it mean that there is no happiness to be found? Does it mean that happiness is merely a figment of the imagination, something which does not exist in fact, but arises like a phantom from ideas of our own making? Either it must be concluded that happiness is inaccessible to man or that man has made some fundamental error in his assessment of happiness. Some may say that the method that man has adopted in his quest for happiness has been imperfect. If one sets out to do a thing but in the wrong way, the goal will not be reached. Some may say that the place where man has been searching for happiness has been the wrong one. Supposing a thing is in one room while the search for it is carried on in another, the object of the search will not be found even though it definitely exists. Whatever the reason may be � and this we will try to investigate � happiness does seem to have eluded mankind. It is one of the most elusive of things! Man cannot quite avail himself of it, even when it seems to be right at his fingertips. Why, exactly, is this?
All the wonderful and tremendous activity on earth indicates that there is some specific, universal want that man is trying to satisfy. This want, we have seen, is the desire for happiness. This desire may be pursued either in a positive way or in a negative way. One may seek to enjoy those things that he conceives in his mind as productive of happiness; or he may try to get rid of all those things that appear to be contrary to his happiness. No one wants pain, sorrow or misery. All want to avoid these afflictions, because they are the very antitheses of happiness. By getting rid of pain and sorrow, people mean to attain to that state in which happiness is clearly perceived.
This much is certain. Man knows what he wants. But he does not know the true nature of what he wants and why his happiness eludes him. That there is a surpassing supreme happiness, which can be obtained in this human life, is the great declaration of the Upanishads, the Vedas, and the Bhagavad Gita. "Know thou that the Reality is indescribable bliss and the highest conceivable happiness. There is that happiness which is so intense that the intellect cannot even comprehend it and the senses (which ordinarily experience happiness) cannot even grasp it or convey it � it is so intense and so transcendental!" - that is the happiness which is the goal of man. Fullness and perfection pertain to the highest happiness. It has nothing to do with the imperfect, for imperfection implies a mixture, and in a mixture of factors, there is no uniformity of experience. If salt and sugar are mixed together and the mixture is placed upon the tongue, one cannot taste a uniform sweetness because of the two elements inherent in the mixture. One will taste sweetness, but at the same time he will make a wry face, for the taste of salt also will fill his mouth. A mixture by its very nature cannot impart purity or perfection to an experience. The great thing is to find surpassing happiness. He who attains that goal passes beyond all grief and sorrow. This assertion that happiness is an experience available to the human being is not stated merely as a theory. It is asserted authoritatively as a substantial, self-experienced fact by those who have actually attained to that supernal experience.
Where is the source of this happiness? Before man can set out in quest of this source, he has to know what he is seeking. The correct conception and the right idea of happiness should be clear to him. Unfortunately, few men demonstrate the use of their intelligence by defining clearly what it is they wish to obtain. The whole world is madly going after something of which it has no clear conception in mind. All this effort becomes practically futile, for it is not backed up by intelligence. The first thing to realize is that happiness is an experience. It is not an object. Also, it is not an acquisition. Rather, it is an awareness of an internal state that is already an essential and, therefore, an irrevocable part of your very being. One cannot just go to a place and bring it away as though it were something to be had. Happiness is a condition of the being. Once it is clearly understood that it is not a thing, then the filling of your life with things will be regarded as a great delusion. Things in this world are not sources of true happiness. At most, they are capable of keeping out (in some doubtful measure) certain known, universal inconveniences and miseries of the human being. This is their only intrinsic value and utility. They have been created by man, and man himself is imperfect. He himself is subject to misery, sorrow, suffering, grief and pain. Things created by such an imperfect being cannot partake of the nature of perfection. We know that it is in perfection that a uniform experience can be had, uncontradicted by anything external. Mixed experiences obtained from man-made things cater to the physical part of the being, providing sensual satisfaction perhaps, or removing discomfort, but imperfect things cannot give us happiness.
POSSESSION OF OBJECTS MEANS NO HAPPINESS
Now the question may arise in your mind: "What about all those beautiful things, those pleasant things, those tasty things, those colourful things, those melodious things filling the world? Do they not give happiness?" Certainly these things do give definite experiences. But, can these experiences be called happiness? That is the point we have to decide now.
The experience derived from all these things depends for its validity, upon our coming into contact with them. Without coming into contact with them, no experience can be obtained. Surrounding yourself with a plethora of the most beautiful objects and then closing your eyes will demonstrate this point. You will not be able to obtain any experience from their physical presence in your room. Why? Because the sense of sight has not made any contact with them. They are things to be seen, and if the sense of sight does not contact them, no experience can be had. Again, let the most wonderful music be played. Plug your ears. Now it is impossible for you to enjoy the pleasure of the sound, because no contact has been made between your ear and music. Similarly, unless the tongue contacts the food you eat, you do not obtain pleasure from the most exquisite banquet of delicious dishes spread out on the table before you. Hearing, seeing, touching, smelling and tasting � all depend upon the contact of the instrumental sense with the corresponding object.
Physical experiences are of the nature of sensations. As such, they are limited by the capacity of the senses to entertain thought of external objects and to carry the sensations to the mind. Beyond a certain limit, which marks the sense capacities, things become disgusting and detestable. Moreover, by the very fact that all these things afford experiences dependent upon sense contacts followed by the conveyance of sensations to the mind, the actual state of the mind is clearly seen to be a condition affecting one�s experience of pleasure. In certain states of mind, one is in no mood for enjoyment. Supposing, for instance, one has received a telegram that his eldest son has just been killed in an air crash. Then the presentation of all manners of pleasurable things will not be able to arouse in him the slightest indication that there is any pleasure that can be derived from them. No! He will be incapable of obtaining any pleasure because the factor which is within him, and which is essential to his happiness, has been overcome by his state of mind. Not all the things of the world could then give to him the experience of pleasure.
It is not surprising, therefore, that opulence and misery oftentimes go together. Some people who have everything, from which sense pleasures can be derived, nevertheless live in misery. They have no peace of mind. They are dejected or in despair. They even contemplate ending their lives. Why? The answer is that there is no invariable causal connection between objects in plenty and the derivation of the experience called happiness. The contrary is also apparent. There are some people possessing very little, but who are filled with happiness. They are always laughing, always singing, even while they work. How is this? If external objects are indispensable to the experience of happiness, how is it that there are people without possessions � clad in rags perhaps or sorely in need of a shoe repair � who are at the same time filled with happiness? If the prerequisite for happiness were the presence of objects, then their absence should rob these people of all joy.
Thus it is that the absence of objects is yet found to be compatible with the experience of joy, just as the presence of objects is found to be compatible with the experience of misery. Clearly it is seen that there is no causal connection between the objects of this universe and the experience of happiness.
How do people, who have all the things that are ordinarily envied, act when they get a few days free from their work? They go on a trip to the mountains or to the national parks or perhaps to Hawaii. Though they own everything usually conceived of as sources of happiness, yet when they are given a little freedom, they in fact try to get away from what they already have. Who ponders over the significance of these things? Who sees their implication? To the thoughtful person, it is clearly revealed that objects of the universe do not have the subtle power to give man the experience of happiness. The thoughtful person sees that happiness is not the getting of anything. What then is the special significance of the expression "The quest for happiness" or "The search for happiness"? Why do we use the words quest and search? Seeking or searching implies that something has been lost. If a thing was, and then is not, we may immediately go in search of it. When the lost thing is found, we have simply recovered it. Life, therefore, is not so much a struggle to discover the source of happiness as an effort to recover lost happiness. In its aspect as a quest, life is an attempt to recover that, which has been lost.
This brings us to a more subtle point and a higher implication. If happiness is a state, which you once had and now have lost, then by regaining the missing factor, you could recover that state for your experience of happiness. Wherein does this factor lie? The very clear and definite answer is: this factor lies within you. It does not lie outside of you. Then, in what relationship does it stand? Is it a part of you or is it close to you? Or is it in the relationship of identity with you? You yourself are that happiness. Happiness is your essential nature. Happiness is your innermost nature. You can never actually lose it, because it is identical with you.
The present temporary state of absence of happiness, and a search, therefore, is a state of forgetfulness, a state not of actual loss. This has been explained in various ways in philosophy. When I was a youngster (in the Third Grade I think), we had in our English textbook a very humorous little lesson called "Grandpa�s Spectacles". We are introduced to a tumult in the drawing room of a house in which Grandpa has lost his spectacles and has set a whole brood of grandchildren on the search for it. Jean and Peter and Joe and John...and the hunt is on. They look underneath the sofa and lift up the rug and climb up to the mantelpiece and peer behind Grandpa�s pillows. After the search has gone on for some time and Grandpa is getting more and more impatient, little Tommy, who has been searching everywhere and is in despair of finding them, cries out suddenly, "Please, Grandpa, remember where you put them before you went to sleep?" And then, when he looks up at Grandpa, behold! - there they are, right up on Grandpa�s forehead. There they have been all along. They were never lost. There seemed to have been a loss, because Grandpa was unaware of the spectacles on his own forehead pushed up absent-mindedly after finishing his newspaper.
In your quest for happiness, your position is precisely the same. The very nature of your being is indescribable, perennial, unalloyed happiness. The absence of happiness is not so much the loss of the thing as such, but the loss of your awareness of its presence within. The source of true happiness lies right within you. The source of true happiness is your Self. Until man realizes his own true nature and taps it at its very source, is he to be totally deprived of happiness? By no means! Just as you are, you may avail yourself of any number of means of getting some experience of happiness. What are these means? There is a very simple way. You may get rid of all those factors that rob you of your happiness. This effort is largely negative, because you do not do anything positive to obtain happiness. You assume that happiness is there, but is not being experienced. Then you wonder what is preventing that experience and proceed to remove the obstructions � and there it is! If a light is there and somehow has been covered over, then you have to uncover it and let it shine. If a quantity of gold is buried at a spot, to obtain that gold you have only to remove the intervening earth and stones and pebbles. Then you find the gold and get it. What are those factors that all too effectively rob us of our happiness? They are of our own making. They are due to the original error of man which lies in the thought that happiness is to be found in objects, and out of this deluded thought has arisen all those factors out of which man has created his own fallacies.
Desire and want, which arise from this prime delusion, destroy all peace of mind. In a mind devoid of peace, how can there be happiness? Happiness depends upon peace of mind. It is in that calm tranquil state of mind that happiness arises, for essentially true happiness is your inward spiritual state. Fortunately or unfortunately, the only media through which it can be expressed are the intellect and the mind. If these two media are thrown into such a state of agitation that they cannot serve as proper channels for the welling up of this inner happiness, then their condition becomes unfit and unfavourable. It is only when there is peace and serenity in the mind and intellect that the inner happiness makes itself felt. The robber of your peace and serenity is the sense of want and desire, which arises out of your prime error that happiness depends upon objects. That is the error in which you start your life. In childhood, one is taught that to have a good time means going places, or doing things, or getting objects, and so children grow up in this delusion. The adult that is produced is at the mercy of things, which are outside of himself. Even a grain of proper understanding of this world, as it really is, instilled into young people would grant a rich harvest in terms of happiness and joy.
THE LIMITED UTILITY OF SENSE OBJECTS
Try to evaluate objects as they really are. To lead a proper existence here on earth, one has to assign a limited value to objects. Certain objects are indispensable for the maintenance of life. To that end they should be utilised. But, let them not assume an undue prominence in your life. For, instead of serving as sustenance, they may become the veritable tyrants sapping life of all true contentment and satisfaction. Your happiness may then become mortgaged to these objects. These objects may then come to have a stranglehold upon you and tend to dominate you and enslave you. A proper understanding and a right evaluation of objects as they are, and for what they are worth, is of prime concern to the human individual. "Thus far, and no further!" you must say, when objects try to invade the interior kingdom of your life.
As far as possible, you must always try to simplify your life. Simplicity of life is the true secret of happiness. Unhampered experience of the joy, which lies within, comes out of simplicity. Therefore, your life should never be complicated with too many things. Due to too many things, due to too many desires, modern man unfortunately has missed this joy. You have seen the bright posters printed by Pan-American AirLines, TWA, etc. The "paradise" which they feature, for a holiday, is not in metropolitan, highly urbanized America, but in the South Sea Islands. Why? Not because they have drive-in theatres, barbecue hamburger stands or racetracks � none of these things are there. Such places rarely offer the ordinary conveniences, yet one readily admits the idea that there is a "paradise" there, because one knows of the natural simplicity of those places. The Hawaiian native always sings and dances. He is comparatively carefree and filled with the happiness of simplicity and contentment. We envy him and even try to imitate him, at least for the time being, by leaving all distractions and going away to his place. In simplicity, man has the key to happiness.
Unwillingly it is that modern man allows his life to become so complicated. He knows that simplicity is the secret of happiness. "But I can�t help it!" - saying thus, he weeps. He tries to forget even the wonderful paradise. He takes tranquilizers. He goes into a saloon or a bar. He does something � anything � to make him forget the total inadequacy of his present condition.
Have the capacity to derive joy out of whatever situation you may find yourself in. Assert: "The situation has not the power to alter my experience. My experience is alterable only to the degree to which I allow it to be altered. If I say �No�, I can have the same peace and happiness within, no matter how the situation changes. It can change every hour; yet, I can be changeless". So much blessedness will come if you have simplicity and contentment. You will find, first of all, that you are free from debts. This nightmare of instalments, of credit plans, that comes month after month, year after year, will be gone. Some people do not have any freedom. They just slave away for those various companies to which they owe instalments. Right to the end of their lives, they go on paying instalments on the house, on the car, on the radio, on the TV, on the refrigerator, on the washing machine, and on heaven knows how many gadgets that have all been invented!
A simple and a contented life depends more upon God-made things than upon man-made objects. There are hundreds of things that can fill you with happiness, if only you have the eyes to see. When you get up in the morning, you can step out of your room, and look at the dawn and be happy. When the sun rises, still more happiness. When you hear the birds warbling, even more happiness. When you feel the cool breeze blowing � there is no end to happiness. Know the technique for deriving happiness from these simple things � from the dawn, the sunrise, the birds, the laughter of children, the beautiful blue sky, the white clouds slowly sailing like majestic ships, little dancing flowers. They can inspire you, if only you know how to derive joy. If you discover this secret, there will be no end to your happiness.
Also, learn to experience joy from the happiness of others. Instead of becoming envious, become filled with joy whenever you see others happy. Feel happy by beholding the happiness of others. Train yourself to derive happiness out of bringing happiness into the lives of others. Learn the technique of getting joy by making others joyful. Your happiness will multiply a thousandfold. At the present moment, it is circumscribed by the experiences undergone by yourself alone. But if you begin to get joy from all others, then you will be happy perpetually. Everyone�s happiness will become a part of your happiness, and will go to multiply it and add to it.
Try to derive joy out of the beauty of all things; not just from those things which you possess. In this way, you will develop an impersonal capacity for happiness. Without touching a cent in your pocket, you will realize an illimitable treasure of happiness, which lies strewn all around you and everywhere about you. When we realize the many things that God has given, for which we have reason to be happy, the whole day will not be long enough for us to be thanking Him. Untold treasure He has given. Just consider your own body, your own self. You have two sound eyes. Supposing someone says "All right. Give me one of your eyes and I will give you twenty thousand dollars", which person in a sane condition of mind would comply with such a request? Supposing you were offered one hundred thousand dollars for your tongue � would you give it? So, that means that you have things that are worth millions and millions of dollars! And yet, there is moping and fretting for a few things, which we do not have - not realizing the untold worth of the precious things, which we already have. There are some people who are unfortunately deprived of these things. Compared to them, how fortunate you are! If you simply reflect on how much God has given you, your whole vision of life will become changed. Know these little secrets. They are little, but they are very important. They can mean the whole difference between darkness and light.
Learn to accept the experiences that come through life. There is no use fretting and fuming, and making yourself miserable over them. You perhaps may just add more misery to the misery that these experiences bring. Have calm and wise resignation. There is one Supreme Intelligence that is guiding the lives of men here, and these experiences that come from that Source, learn to accept like human beings. Endure the little troubles that come through life. If there is a little sorrow, endure it and learn to take away its sting. Thus you may enrich your life out of those very experiences which you find painful and unpleasant.
Be friendly to all. Towards your superiors, have an attitude of complaisance. Do not be full of fear, timidity and nervousness in their presence. That can also rob you of your joy. Be serene. With your own equals, be friendly. Feel oneness with all. Towards those who are inferior to you in status, in health, in strength, in beauty, have an attitude of kindness, love and compassion. To those who are troublesome, wicked, unpleasant and nasty, be indifferent. Do not work yourself up into a state of irritation, annoyance, unfriendliness or hatred. Just ignore the wicked. These four attitudes will provide you with a means of not being put out � complaisance towards superiors; friendliness and brotherhood towards your equals; kindness and compassion towards those who are inferior to you; and a perfect indifference to all those who are inimical to you, who are troublesome, nasty, evil or wicked. All these four categories of people you are bound to encounter in life.
Above all, do not give way to anger. Anger, more than any other single factor in this world, destroys happiness. It can totally wreck the entire happiness of a home. If one member of the household has a temper, and gives vent to his anger, he can destroy the happiness of all members of the home � even the neighbours may be affected!
Maintain a rational restraint over the senses. The urge toward carnal enjoyment is a natural part of the human being, but it pertains only to the mental-physical part of your nature. We have to recognize this as such. However, it is the prerogative of every individual being endowed with high intelligence to hold a rein over the senses. That way, the senses cannot destroy happiness. If they are allowed to hold sway over you, then you cannot have any happiness. This is the Law of the Universe.
Base your life upon virtue, truth and purity. If purity is always your guiding rule, guilt complexes and neuroses will go, and psychiatrists will be unnecessary for you. Happiness fills those who base their lives upon virtue. Virtue is a direct emanation from the Divine, just as happiness is a quality of the Divine. Although it may be difficult in the beginning, yet, how many headaches would you save yourself, if you would base your life upon virtue and truth! If you tell a lie, to support it, you have to tell a chain of lies. Sticking to truth takes away from you all anxiety and a thousand pinpricks. A life of truth and purity is a life devoid of many of the factors that contribute to the misery and unhappiness of the modern world.
Even more important - keep close to that great Inner Source of all happiness, all joy, all bliss! Call It by whatever name you choose � I do not want to give It a name. Make That the centre of your being. That is the Eternal Thing that supports your life. That is your alpha and omega, your all-in-all, your supporting substratum, and your destination and goal. Keep close to It by developing love. Love the Supreme! Always remember the Supreme! Great ones who have become absorbed forever in the Supreme Blessed State of happiness and bliss have told us one great secret, which provides us with an unfailing method of attaining happiness. That secret is the Divine Name. They said, "Practice the Divine Name. The Name of the Supreme and the Supreme are not two; they are one. If you have the Divine Name within you, you have the Supreme within you". This is a great spiritual truth. This is a great fact. If you remember this fact, and try to make the Divine Name your own; if you always repeat the Divine Name, always invoke the Divine Name, always fill yourself with the current of the Divine Name, then happiness and blessedness will be present with you always.
Happiness, in the truest sense of the term, is that changeless experience right within you. It is that awareness which, being present, enables you to derive sweetness out of all other things; and which, being absent, deprives you of all the sweetness in anything. That is the most important fact. It works like the figure '1' in Mathematics. If '1' is there, you may add to it any number of zeroes. Each zero progressively increases the value of the number enormously; the zeroes then gain great significance. But, if '1' is not there, all the zeroes are just ciphers without any value of their own whatsoever. Similarly, all things gain the capacity of giving happiness only in the presence of the ONE BEING. Make Him the centre of your life. Make Him the most important and paramount thing in your life. Then you will never be taken away from your happiness even for a single second. No one will be able to take you away from It, for you are yourself in that Happiness. When a fish is taken out of a little bowl and released into the ocean, it swims about anywhere and always remains in the vast ocean. So, from the tiny bowl of deluded life where we have paid this undue attention to external objects, let us lift ourselves out and enter into that vast Truth. In God lies happiness, and within me He is, and He and I are one.
Within lies the perennial Fount of Eternal Happiness. May you live your life in this Truth. Then, I will assure you that your life will become a stream of happiness. May your life thus flow forth not as a vale of tears, but as a perennial stream of infinite happiness. This is my prayer. May God give you the strength and the inspiration to blossom out into that simplicity and contentment, that shining and radiant virtue, that serene state of detachment, that friendliness with all beings, out of which this great gift that is waiting to be bestowed upon you will become your own. May your life become radiant with joy.
Footnote
This article has been extracted from the book "The Path Beyond Sorrow" which is a compilation of a series of lectures delivered by His Holiness Swami Chidananda in Canada in the year 1960.
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