Happiness
Some Real-life Scenarios
1. A Student who scores state’s highest score in 10th Board exam, and later gets top 10 rank in the Engineering entrance exam, is later found to be drug addict after few years. Drug was the only means to give him happiness.
2. A young talented Film Actor who gets unprecedented success at the age of 25, commits suicide due to professional rivalry, jealousy, backstabbing by the powerful Bollywood biggies, the Bollywood’s privileged Club.
3. A top ranked IIM A student, who goes on to settle in dream land USA with the highest ever 7 Digit pay packet in the campus recruitment and is well placed in World 's largest MNC. After 10 years of corporate job, he suddenly quits his posh lifestyle in USA and comes to settle in a Rishikesh Ashram in search of happiness.
4. An Australian named Nick Vujicic was born with some rare disease which made him without legs and hands. Without losing any hope, without caring for any criticism and comments from his friends, is a painter, swimmer, skydiver, and motivational speaker. He is the ever-smiling millionaire without any remorse and hopelessness.
5. A Bonda Adivasi woman in Odisha who gets physically tortured by her drunken husband every day, does the field work, and attends and conducts Satsangs in every house in the village, chants Durga Stotra loudly, does Nama Japa with a baby on her lap, keeps a smiling face always and transforms his drunken husband one day and he also joins her Satsang oneday.
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The first 3 stories proved that people who ran after creating career, success, money, wealth , fame, prestige, and power are not always Happy. In contrast, in the last two examples, Nick Vujicic and the Adivasi woman, despite tremendous pain and suffering and more serious challenges, were the happiest lots.
Nick was never sad and unhappy due to his fate or physical disability condition, instead took it as a blessing to express himself and became a great role model for not only depressed and hopeless people but also all sorts of people in general.
The Adivasi woman could also transform her life by connecting with her soul despite her crisis laden life. She was able to get her true happiness by connecting her with the delight of the psychic consciousness.
Happiness is a choice, not a result of any outer circumstances. Nothing will make us happy until we choose to be happy.
In this life there is always going to be stress, challenges, crisis, difficulties based on circumstances. It is our choice whether we let it affect our life.
Happiness and success in bringing happiness are, no doubt, a legitimate demand of humanity; it is an attempt of life and matter to catch a pale reflection or a gross image of felicity: but a superficial happiness and material success, however desirable to our vital nature, are not the main object of our existence.
Why We Are Happy:
Scientific Reasons:
When we are happy, the brain releases specific hormones from the pituitary gland relating to happiness, feeling good. The following list shows the types of hormones secreted when we are happy due to various reasons:
Hormone
Functions
Dopamine: The Reward Hormone, or the Feel Good Hormone, known for memory, sleep, mood, pleasurable reward, behaviour, cognition
Oxytocin:
The Love Hormone, known to increase trust and feeling of being loved; triggers the bond between a mother and an infant or between lovers.
Serotonin: The Calm Hormone, which increases well-being and happiness
Endorphins: The Will Power Hormone: Runners’ High feelings of Euphoria and pleasure, relaxed; helps create good habits.
Spiritual Reasons:
Why We should be Happy Always?
Happiness is not the aim of life.
The aim of ordinary life is to carry out one’s duty, the aim of spiritual life is to realise the Divine. Divine peace and happiness cannot come from money, family, children, pleasure, prosperity.
To do at each moment the best we can and leave the result to the Divine’s decision, is the surest way to peace, happiness, strength, progress and final perfection. — The Mother
There are many reasons to be happy. But the most significant reason in my opinion is to make Divine Mother Happy.
Following is a related story about Mother’s Interaction with children:
1. To Help the Mother in Yoga: In the fifties the Mother took French classes for the children. During one of these Friday evening classes in the Playground one of the children asked the Mother: “What can we do to help you. Mother, in the Yoga?” There was general laughter. But Mother was quite serious, and after some time She said very simply: “Be happy.”
Again there was laughter and the child said: “But Mother we are always happy.” The Mother continued, “Yes, that is good because when you are happy here it means you are on the right path - but immediately you feel uneasy or not so happy, it means there is something wrong which you have to attend to - something wrong with you which you have to correct.”
2. To help in the growth of psychic:
When we are truly happy without any specific reasons, it helps in the growth of the psychic. We must be happy when we do direct Divine Work, otherwise, they cannot have the full advantage of the exceptional opportunity. We should replace all our outer happiness by the sense of the one true happiness, the happiness that is founded in Divine and which never fades.
3. To experience total growth of our whole being:
Our true happiness lies in the true growth of our whole being, in a victory throughout the total range of our existence, in mastery of the inner as well as and more than the outer, the hidden as well as the overt nature; our true completeness comes not by describing wider circles on the plane where we began, but by transcendence.
How Can We Be Happy Always: 1. Learn to be contented: Happy is he who possesses nothing, he will partake of the delight of the radiant gods. “To possess nothing” does not at all mean not to make use of anything, not to have anything at one’s disposal", but rather "to have equal joy" in the use as in the absence of things. It is the sense of ownership that enslaves you to things.
2. Expand, widen yourself in Divine Delight: Delight means to live in the Truth, to live in communion with Eternity, with the true Life, the Light that never fails. Delight means to be free, free with the true Freedom, the Freedom of the constant, invariable union with the Divine Will. When you no longer possess anything, you can become as vast as the universe.
3. To be Ready to give Happiness: Always remember that on the happiness you give will depend the happiness you get.
4. To have mastery over oneself: Self-mastery is the greatest conquest, it is the basis of all enduring happiness.
5. Accept Everything as Her Gift: We should remember Radha’s Prayer: Whether Thou choosest for me life or death, happiness or sorrow, pleasure or suffering, all that comes to me from Thee will be welcome. Each one of Thy gifts will be always for me a gift divine bringing with it the supreme Felicity.
6. Should be calm and smiling, Always: Nothing should disturb our inner smile with Divine.
7. We should be ready to correct our mistakes and should have an attitude to progress.
8. We should stop blaming others: As we are inapt to see the truth and to act accordingly
9. We should work for harmony and conciliation: We should be ready to correct our mistakes and to progress.
10. Practice Unquestioning Surrender: We should leave everything at Divine’s Lotus Feet: To do at each moment the best we can and leave the result to the Divine’s decision, is the surest way to peace, happiness, strength, progress and final perfection.
11. Stop worshipping Lords of Falsehood: This is the most cunning trap/control the lower vital, lower mental beings. We should never fall into its trap to repent later. The falsehood traps come from newspapers, Media, Internet, Gossiping, Rumours, movies, books that titillate our senses, or emotions.
12. We have a progress to make constantly: When you feel unhappy like that, it means that you have a progress to make. We should be aware of that part which refuses to change in us and clings to its old habits.
13. Practice Inner Silence and look within oneself honestly: The Psychic consciousness can help us find out what is wrong in us and sets to work courageously to put it right.
14. Watch and Control our Thoughts: Consciousness is at the root of all tendencies of character, and if we can have a pure or a purified consciousness, that will be to lay the sure foundations of happiness. Numberless thoughts besiege the mind and, storming it, cause a disturbance within. The Mother’s advice is that one should withdraw oneself into one’s true or real consciousness, and watch one’s surface thoughts as an enlightened judge will, and sort out the good from the bad. At this stage, the "inner guard" must emerge and station himself at the gateway and allow only the good thoughts to enter the inner sanctum: "It is this movement of admission and refusal that we call thought-control.
15. Stop multitasking: We should stop multitasking as it kills our brain, and fails to organise our thoughts, reduces the efficiency and quality of our work, leading to unhappiness.
