To be happy, you seek something. But despite getting it, you are not happy. A schoolboy thinks that if he goes to college, he will be more independent, free and, therefore, happy. When you ask a college student whether he is happy, he feels that if he gets a job, he will be happy. Talk to somebody who is settled in his job or business, and you may find that he is waiting to get a perfect soul mate to be happy. Then what? When he gets a soul mate, he now wants a child, to be happy. Ask those who have children, if they are happy. They respond that how can they relax until the children have grown up and have had a good education and are successfully settled on their own? Ask those who are retired if they are happy? They long for the days when they were younger.
All of one's life is spent in preparing to be happy someday in the future. It's like making your bed all night, but having no time to sleep in it. How many minutes, hours and days of your life have you spent being happy from within? Those are the only moments you have really lived life. Those were perhaps the days when you were a small kid, completely blissful and happy or a few moments when you were surfing, swimming or sailing or on a mountain top, living in the present and enjoying it.
There are two ways of looking at life. One is thinking: "I'll be happy after achieving a certain objective." The second is saying: "I am happy come what may!" Which one do you want to live by? Life is 80% joy and 20% misery. But you hold on to the 20% and make it 200%! It is not a conscious act, it just happens. Living in the moment with joy, alertness, awareness and compassion is enlightenment. Being like a child is enlightenment. It is being free from within, feeling at home with everybody, without barriers.
Don't judge and don't worry about what others think of you. Whatever they think, it is not permanent. Your own opinion about things and people keeps changing all the time. So why worry about what others think about you? Worrying takes a toll on the body, mind, intellect and alertness. It is like an obstruction that takes you far away from yourself. It brings fear, and fear is nothing but the lack of love. It is an intense sense of isolation.
Relaxing through meditation and breathing exercises can handle this. When one is relaxed, one realizes that they are loved, and connected to everybody, and are a part of the whole universe. This will liberate you and the mind will completely shift. You will then find so much harmony around.
To find harmony, it is not as if you have to physically seek it by sitting somewhere for years. Whenever you are in love, your mind is in the present, you feel joyous. At some level, to some degree, everybody is meditating without being aware of it. There are moments when your body, mind and breath are all in harmony. That's when you achieve yoga.
"The Art of Living lies in the present moment." See less
ARE YOU HAPPY ?...SECRETS TO HAPPINESS
Life is beyond definition. Much more than whatever you can capture or define. It is so vast, so big, it can’t be encapsulated in a few words. When defining life you are limiting the scope of life.Happiness is a factor that we have to consciously pursue. Unconsciously we all are happy, but somewhere in the pursuit of happiness we get stuck and miss the goal. That is what spirituality is all about - bringing that one smile.
Once you are able to see the light, you see the entire past as a dream, move on. Wake up and see the present, you will find happiness is there, unconditional happiness. Then you are happy and not dependant on others for your happiness.
Happiness depends only on your mind. When the mind is free of past impressions and future cravings, happiness is there.
Happiness is an attitude which you chose. It all depends just on you. There are people with no jobs but are happy. There are people with jobs and are unhappy. Be wise and be happy. Do whatever – employed, unemployed…But independent of what you are doing, you need to be happy.
Happiness does not come by a talent or skills that you develop. Unless you realize who you are, what the nature of consciousness is through your own introspection, happiness remains a far-fetched reality. The spirit of self enquiry in the true sense which leads to meditation is absolutely essential in this quest for happiness.
Once a wise man drew a line on a board and told his student to make the line shorter without touching or erasing it. How would you do it? You have to shorten a line without touching it. The intelligent one (referring to the student) then drew a much longer line underneath that line. So, the line automatically became shorter.
The lesson here is that if your difficulties appear to be very big, lift your eyes because you are only focused on yourself. If you lift your eyes up and look at those who are in a worse condition than you, you will suddenly feel that your burden is not as bad as you thought it was. If you think you have some big problem, look at people who have a greater problem. Suddenly, you will get a confidence that my problem is much smaller, and I can manage it
Life is a combination of happiness and pain. Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. Having a broad perspective on life gives you the strength to move forward through painful times. Know that you are very much needed in this world. With all its infinite possibilities, this life is a gift for it can become a fountain of joy and happiness not just for oneself but for many others as well.
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So, the First point on how to be happy is to see the world where there are greater and bigger problems. Then, your problems will appear smaller. The moment your problems appear smaller, you will get the energy and confidence to deal with it or solve it. In simple words, serve those who are in greater need.
Second, look at your own life. In the past, you had many problems. They have all come and gone. Know that even this will go and you do have the energy and power to overcome it. You will get self-confidence by understanding and looking at your own past.
Third, and most important, do some breathing exercise and relaxation.Make Meditation a Part of Life.Modern life's demands lead to stress and restlessness, which can be released through a few minutes of meditation. Meditation gives you deep rest. The deeper you are able to rest, the more dynamic you will be in activity. It is the best tool to wipe your mind clean of all past impressions that weigh you down.
Often, we get pulled in different directions and are unable to devote time to ourselves. We do not take out the time to think and reflect. This can leave us dull and tired. A few quiet moments everyday are the source of creativity. Silence heals and rejuvenates and gives you depth and stability.
Sometime during the day, sit for a few minutes; get into the cave of your heart, eyes closed, and keep the world away.Just turn inwards to the Source, there is no sadness. Once you learn how to go inwards the world doesn't seem sad. Birds are chirping;the river is flowing. Where is the sadness? I only see beauty in the world. Just look at all the faces (here)they are so happy!In life, there’s 20 percent sadness and 80 percent happiness. But our mind makes the 20 percent into 2000 percent.
Fourth, do you know, in anger we say, ‘I give up’. Without frustration or anger say, ‘I give this problem up, I cannot solve it, let the Divine help me.’ And know that you will always be helped. Have the confidence that you will be helped; a power in the universe is going to help you.
The Fifth one , What do you think is the fifth one?
I leave it to you. You think about the fifth one. I can go on up to twenty-five or thirty (points), but I would like you to come up with it. We are always looking for solutions from someone.
We forget that if we turn our mind inward, we can get some idea, some solution. This is the fifth one. Spontaneity! Be spontaneous
Spontaneity will come when you take a few minutes to go deep within yourself. There is nothing great in smiling when everything is normal, and when everything is going the way you want. But if you awaken the valor inside of you, and say, ‘Come what may, I am going to keep smiling’, you will notice tremendous energy, just rise from within you. And the problem is like nothing; it just comes and disappears.
Think ..Think...Any new ideas...There are plenty
Serve You can make service your habit.Make a commitment to make this world a better place to live. Do some acts of kindness without expecting anything in return. Service alone can bring contentment in life. It creates a sense of connectedness. When you bring some relief to someone through selfless service, good vibrations come to you. When you show kindness, your true nature, which is love and peace, come to the surface.
Human life has two purposes. One is how much you take, and second is how much you give. So, what is that you can take in the world? You cannot take all the money out of this world. You may earn millions of dollars, but you will have to leave it here. It cannot go with you. The millions of dollars or euro you earn come to help to take care of your food, clothing, a little comfortable bed and room to sleep, and travel a bit here and there. That is all. It cannot bring happiness.
We should not expect money to bring us happiness. If we do it, we are not intelligent. If we think money is going to bring us happiness, it is like saying, “I can eat coins and get rid of my hunger”. You need an eatable to get out of your hunger, and not Euros or coins. That is all. It cannot bring happiness. You should not expect money to bring you happiness. You can buy an eatable with Euro, that is a different thing.
Ultimately, happiness cannot be bought by money. We must know this very well. So, get all this comfort in life. But what is it you should get? Comfort is a small thing. But what is it that you can take with you? What can go with you is knowledge. What gets imprinted in the consciousness is knowledge. So, how much knowledge have you gained?
Knowledge is not what you read in a book, but it is awareness. How much awareness you have gained? How much broadness in your mind has come up? And in giving, how much love have you given back to the world.
So, how much love have you given?
And how much knowledge have you taken?
These are the only two things that will be asked, and that makes life more fruitful. So, we are all on the right track.
There are two kinds of happiness, one is the happiness that you get by getting and another is by giving. Like children, if you give them sweets in their hands they become so happy, happiness of gaining something. But if you ask the adults of the house, the grandmother and the grandfather when their grandchildren visit they make different kinds of food and feed everybody and they are happy. It’s a mature joy of the elders in giving. When they give somebody something they feel so happy.
Only in giving there is happiness .
So until you don’t give yourself to others you will not find contentment or happiness. You can never be content in taking. Contentment comes only in giving. But people want to be contented in taking and they go after things but no one finds contentment. That is why people are not contented.
People often ask how can they get more happiness and joy from everywhere?
This race of more and more is killing us. More and more and more – How can I get more? Relax my dear. We don’t even have enough time to enjoy what we have. We should think how can I be more useful to the society, how can I serve more? One who is always thinking of getting something is like a beggar. Everything comes to the one who thinks how she/he can contribute more to the society. There won’t be any lack for such a person.
Whole our life we keep on running behind things with the hope of getting something. We keep on looking for some kind of profit. How would such person experience happiness? Neither does a greedy person get happiness nor does a person who is bombarded with too many desires. The one who relaxes in his consciousness is happy. One, who is centered, experiences the true happiness. I am not saying there is no happiness in the outer world, but the happiness you get when you go within is incomparable.
Feel Grateful. Our love, faith, and belief should be deep-rooted, and then everything else moves on its own. The feeling that "I am blessed" can help you overcome any failure. Once you realize that you are blessed, then all the complaints and grumbling disappear, all the insecurities disappear and you become grateful, contented and peaceful. More gratefulness and gratitude means more grace. More grace means more happiness, more knowledge.
Spend time with Nature.If you are not amazed by the magnificence of this creation -- your eyes are not yet opened. Tell me, what in this creation is not a mystery? Birth is a mystery; death is a mystery. If both birth and death are mysteries, then life is certainly a greater mystery.
Being completely immersed in the mystery of life and in this creation is samadhi.Just like we live in the outer world of events and circumstances, we also live in the inner world of emotions and feelings, which we are not always aware of. The distance between the outer and the inner worlds is just the blink of an eye. Yoga is the skill of keeping attention on the inner world while acting in the outer. When you are lost in the outside world, there is disharmony in the inner world and life is like a war. When you are established in the inner world, there is clarity in the outer world and life becomes a game.
Perform your duties 100%.You have to perform your duty and you have to be happy. Why do you want to have a choice between these two? Hmm... If there is a choice, go for duty first because if you are unhappy it may be momentary, right?
Happiness is there, will come. But if you are choosing happiness before duty then you will be unhappy in the end. So it’s better to be unhappy in the beginning than keep it a long, long program. When you have given your 100 percent, physically, intellectually… then you realize you are not doing, but things are happening.
Very often, people ask me how I see the future. And I say that the future is for them to build however they want it. The unwise regret the past, think the future is destiny and are miserable in present.
The wise see their past as destiny, the future as free will and are happy in the present.
You can be happy come what may, that is spirituality.Come what may, however everything is, topsy turvy or not, you can decide to be happy and you can be happy!
Happiness should also be controlled. When we are happy, we should channelize our happiness." Sukh mein seva, Dukh mein tyaag "– memorize this formula.
When you are happy, do some Service, and when you are sad or miserable then surrender your sorrow. If you do not have the attitude of surrender, sorrow will never leave you. If one does not surrender even in sorrow, then there is no way out for that person. Surrender and Service, both should go together in life.
The world is running in search of happiness. The body gets baked, the mind gets baked, the intellect gets deluded but still we keep on getting stuck in the same repetitive cycle. When you meet Guru, you come to know that you are the source of happiness. Then the mind calms down, and you realize that you are the one in whose search you kept on running here and there.
True happiness is when you find inner stability, inner comfort and when you know you are connected to something much bigger than what you can even imagine.
True happiness is when you know that there is some power in you which is unshakeable. The love or God that is deep inside you is that which manages or keeps the orderliness in the whole creation. When you know that then, nobody and nothing whatsoever can take away your happiness.
Happiness is when you want nothing and you want to give.... When the wants and desires end and the sharing begins....Happiness is exactly there.
Just be happy and bring happiness to others. With love you can win over everything. So put all your effort.
Know more at www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7cvleNdF-g
HOW CAN I GET MORE HAPPINESS AND JOY?
This race for more and more is killing us. More and more and more – how can I get more? Relax, my dear. We don’t even have enough time to enjoy what we have. We should think how we can be more useful to the society; how can we serve more? One who is always thinking of getting something is like a beggar. Everything comes to the one who thinks how she/he can contribute more to the society. There won’t be any shortage for such a person.
This very universe and the very events in the world which appear to us to be a big botheration, turn around and become a playing field, a game. When you can see this whole flow of events as temporary, as non-existent, then even when someone scolds you, you smile
When somebody is scolding you, notice the buttons being pushed – that is “something is happening”. ‘Oh, what is happening here inside? I am getting angry. I’m feeling frustrated. Oh good.’ Every event, every happening becomes a play, a game, a celebration. Walk blissfully, breathe blissfully, sit blissfully, being aware of all these events.
When you can see the entire event as fleeting impositions or happenings, and you remain untouched by them, then you are happy. Joy springs out of you, like a fountain. That is your very nature. Clinging on to the past, to your likes and dislikes, you have bolted the fountain of joy.
Something, which appears to be a big burden, problem or hurdle, which would seem to take away life, later seems a joke
YOU CANNOT MAKE ANYBODY HAPPY!
In this world there is always a play of positive and negative. Some problems come, some challenges come, and solutions also follow them. The ancient people would simply focus on keeping their energy high. If your energy is high and people come to you, their problems will get solved.. What happens when people talk to you about their problems? You get steeped in their problems. You get carried away with the problems.
So just try this. Let everybody come and complain 100 things to you, you simply keep your energy high, your sight inwards, your mind inwards as though nothing has happened. You will realize that there is freedom within you.
Try this – anybody can complain about anything, let the world go topsy-turvy, but hold onto the idea – I am going to keep my energy high. You just take one such step and then see.I
DEVELOP THE HABIT OF BEING HAPPY
The strength of your happiness is measured by the adverse situations you are in. If everything is smooth, then you giving a big smile is nothing! That smile is worth nothing! But, if you can smile through any situation, through any event! So what, I’ll keep a big smile and let the world die and disappear.
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You are unhappy about things you have and you are unhappy about things you don’t have. Isn’t it? Someone who doesn’t have a car is unhappy, because he doesn’t have a car. Someone who has a car is unhappy, because he has to maintain that car and it is such a big headache: pay the tax, do this, maybe get a ticket… I could simply take public transport and go as before. Now I have to do the cars service and keep it somewhere when I get out. If the battery goes down, do something about it. A hundred and one things!
Santosha. Develop the habit of being happy. You have to do it. Nothing else can give you that.Nobody else can do it. If anybody else or anything else does it, it will only be very temporary. You take a step!
I am not going to sell my smile.I am not going to be unhappy
WHEN YOU WILL BE HAPPY?
Joy is found only in the present moment. Yet usually we find the mind swinging back and forth between the past and the future. We feel regretful or angry about something that has happened to us, or we worry about the way things will turn out.
Observe your mind. See how much time it spends on yesterday, last year, when you were a child. Yet the past is past. It is gone, finished. Why waste so much life in it? It’s the same with worry about tomorrow. When you were in school you were anxious about what to do after graduation. When you started your career you worried Will I ever reach my goals? You think I’ll be happy when I get a house. I’ll be happy when I’m married. When you get married you think I’ll be happier when we have children. When you have kids you think I’ll be happy when they are all on their own and I can have some peace.
You postpone your happiness until some perfect future date, but it never arrives.Be in the present. If you are happy now, the past will not torment you.If you live life now, tomorrow will take care of itself
THE SOURCE OF TRUE HAPPINESS
It is Purnima (Full moon day) today, but it is very cloudy. This is how it is in life also. You are beautiful and pure just like a full moon, but that is not visible because of the clouds (here meaning inertia and negativity). When grace starts showering in life, all these clouds start to move away and disappear, and then the fully blossomed moon becomes visible.
In the same way, there is a veil (of ignorance) over knowledge. Just understand this: Whenever we are miserable, discontent, and restless, in those moments there is a veil or curtain over our vision, and we are facing away from the light (of knowledge). We are facing away from the light of God in such times, which is why we feel surrounded by darkness. At such times our shadow (of sorrow or misery) appears large and we feel afraid just by looking at it.
Whenever we experience some fear in life, it is because of the shadow (of worry or misery) that we see. And we keep struggling and fighting against the shadow. So what do we need to do to overcome this? We need to simply turn towards the light; towards the Guru. The instant we turn to the light, in a matter of seconds the darkness around us disappears, and the shadow we were fighting with also vanishes.
It is said that one should consider the mind and the world as a part of the Divine. What happens when you see the entire world as a part of the Divine? The attachment that one has towards the world comes to an end. Your anger, and greed vanish, and the feverishness of your desires that grips you also comes to an end. This is experiential truth. It is not superficial talk. You should experience this for yourself in your life.
We often say that the mind is very fickle and restless. Why is it so? It is because the mind always seeks greater pleasure and more joy. It is always in pursuit of the highest joy. How can we get that joy? We often think that we can get such joy by being with a particular kind of company; or by getting some high post, etc.
When a handful of people speak lofty praises about you, you tend to feel so elevated as if you are getting some great joy. This delusion or tendency of the mind (to find limited pleasure in objects and people) needs to be understood first.When you understand this, then at the same time you will also realize that the Divine is the greatest source of happiness. And then you realize that there is no distance between you and the Divine.
There is total oneness and you feel that you and the Divine are the same, and the whole world is made up of the Divine. That’s it. This is the essence of everything. Just keep reminding yourself about this. When you realize this, all misery disappears.
If whatever we do is in search of happiness, then why is there so much pain and misery in the world?
There is a story of Mullah Nasserudin. His wife was pregnant and the time of delivery had come. But the baby was not coming out. When doctor told this to Mullah Nasserudin, he ran to the market, bought a toy, and kept that toy in front of her wife. He said, “After all this is my child, so he will surely come out with greed”.
Our whole life we keep on running behind things with the hope of getting something. We keep on looking for some kind of profit. How would such person experience happiness? Neither does a greedy person get happiness nor does a person who is bombarded with too many desires.
The one who relaxes in his consciousness, is happy. One who is centered, experiences the true happiness. I am not saying there is no happiness in the outer world, but the happiness you get when you go within is incomparable. The world is running in search of happiness.
The body gets baked, the mind gets baked, the intellect gets deluded but still we keep on getting stuck in the same repetitive cycle. When you meet the Guru, you come to know that you are the source of happiness. Then the mind calms down, and you realize that you are the one in whose search you kept on running here and there.
Our physical body is the gross body, while our subtle body is 1.5 times larger than the gross body. And the Karana Sharira or Causal body is a 1000 times finer and subtler than even the subtle body itself. So we have three kinds of bodies. When the subtle body constricts and becomes smaller than the gross body, then a person becomes restless and miserable. When the subtle body diminishes even further, then a person loses his mental balance and feels like committing suicide. This is the root cause behind suicides.
Suppose the vest you are wearing shrinks too much and becomes smaller than the body, then how do you feel? You feel like tearing the vest and being free from it, right? When the inner garment you wear shrinks too much then it creates irritation, isn’t it? This is what happens in suicide too, because the subtle body shrinks too much and becomes even smaller than the gross body.
External pomp and show, wealth, admiration and adulation are not helpful in dealing with inner discontent. You can bid goodbye to misery by connecting with an altogether different dimension, that I would say is solidified silence, a bolt of bliss and a glimpse of eternity, which is in you as you. You simply have to tap into it.
There is little use in having a machine which you cannot operate without a manual. Spiritual knowledge is like the manual for life. Just like to drive a car, we have to learn how to operate the steering wheel, the clutch, the brake and so on, to move towards stability of the mind, we must know the basic principles about our life force energy.
This is the whole science of pranayama. When our prana or life force keeps fluctuating, our mind also goes up and down through the roller coaster of emotions.One cannot handle the mind from the level of the mind. It is for this reason that although counseling or psychiatry seems to help in the beginning, it is not able to provide a complete cure in the longer term.
Just forcing positive thoughts on oneself is not enough and more often than not leads to a relapse. Medication like anti-depressants also seem to help only in the beginning and eventually make the person dependent on them rather than free him/her from the tendency.
By the practice of chanting mantras, pranayama and meditation the subtle body grows larger in size and also gets strengthened
Breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya stabilize our life force and consequently the mind..
When the subtle body becomes strong then one appears normal (physically). And when the subtle body expands much more than its normal limits then one feels that he is soaked in bliss. And as the subtle body expands further, it becomes finer and finer and merges or becomes one with the Causal body – that is when one gets Moksha (liberation or salvation).
The inner dimension unveiled by the practice of meditation deeply enriches us and its impact slowly spills over to all aspects of life. As prana rises in the body, one starts to feel a transformation as direct experience and not as a forced mental exercise. One starts becoming happier, creative and more in command of their mind and emotions.
Life is a combination of happiness and pain. Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. Having a broad perspective on life gives you the strength to move forward through painful times. Know that you are very much needed in this world. With all its infinite possibilities, this life is a gift for it can become a fountain of joy and happiness not just for oneself but for many others as well.
