I would like to ask you to take a moment, close your eyes, and answer this question in your own words: What is happiness?
Now that you’ve formed your own idea, here is what Wikipedia says: “Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Happy mental states may also reflect judgments by a person about their overall well-being.”
Here is a second question: What would make you happy? Don’t ponder this question, just get a clear picture of the first answer that pops into your mind. Most people will think of something outside of themselves; the largest group will probably think of money or something that money can buy. A smaller, but significant group will think of something concerning relationships. And a yet smaller group will think of something having to do with position, status, or how others view them. Any answer, however, that lies outside your own mental state is wrong. Things, people, position—none of these have the power to give happiness. But how we react to them will affect our state of well-being. So, if it is our reactions that make us happy or unhappy, here is a final question:
Is happiness a choice? That is, can you learn to control your reactions? The tendency is glibly to say, of course I can. But if it were that easy, everyone would be happy all the time. You would be happy all the time. Are you?
Here is what yogic teachings have to say about it. Theoretically you can control your reactions, but habit patterns from this life or past lives might limit your ability to do so. In order to be happy all the time, we have to change these mental and emotional habits. Patanjali goes even further and says we need to learn to neutralize the chitta (primordial feelings of likes and dislikes that reside in the heart area). When we can do this, we will achieve a state of union and a state of bliss.
So, what prevents us from neutralizing the whirlpools of chitta? Habit is one answer. Another is that we don’t really want to; we still like the excitement of the emotional ups and downs of life’s roller coaster. The first step is truly to want bliss rather than excitement or, stated another way, to want God more than the material world. Only once this desire is strong enough do we then come to the study of yoga, or scientific methods leading to union with the Infinite. And what are those methods?
What is happiness? Bliss.
Feelings, it turns out, are based upon the flow of prana (energy) in the astral and physical spine. An upward, expansive flow results in feelings of happiness and well-being, while downward, negative flows result in discontents and unhappiness. So Paramhansa Yogananda taught us methods that help us to control this prana, techniques of pranayama including Kriya Yoga. Day by day, meditation by meditation, we learn to bring this energy under our conscious control. When prana is in a still state, the waves of chitta subside, and we are finally able to see our true self, our blissful soul nature, which seeks nothing outside itself.
So, here are possible answers to all of those questions:
What is happiness? Bliss.
Where can we find it? In our soul nature.
What makes us happy? To unite with our soul nature, which is already happy.
Is this a choice? Yes, but in order to make it, we have to overcome the restless resistance of the ego.
In the joy of the soul,
Nayaswami Jyotish
19 Comments
Jyotish,
thank you so much for this clear summary of what our behavior and aims should be to take us closer to awareness of God’s divine bliss.
blessings to all,
Pat
Very good teaching. This will promote the well being of every body
Aum Aum Aum
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you very much for the blog :)
Aum,
Prem
Beautiful! Thank you so much! With almost losing my home and family gone it is a scary time. Thank you again, for such Beautiful words from Spirit! I have been to Ananda Assisi and will never forget the beautiful energy that resides there. Since Iam a World apart, Thank you for making the miles seem closer. As our Hearts are united in Spirit, there is no separation..
Love and Light. Soul Sistar! Namaste!
That was beautifully put.
Pranam Ji
Thanks for sharing, Propounded truth need to work out with the Blessings of Guru and You Acharyas to Reach there, Ever New Joy .
With Gratitude
R Sundararajan
Beautifully said and a reminder that needs a practice every day!
(Just like the hokey-pokey:) That’s what it’s all about! :-) Thanks, Jyotish.
Thank you Jyotish,
This helped me… good to reflect on excitement vs bliss. Blessings, Julie
Wow! Thank you dear Nayaswami Jyotish for these beautiful profound words of wisdom. We were taught to always count our blessings, not woes, most worthy advice. I could never count my blessings as they’re innumerable but equally my greatest woe was that the test of untold traumas and fear in life got a hold and took away the pure Oneness I had with our Father God (and I felt tortured with guilt for that weakness) What I would count as my greatest/truest happiness is – by the Grace of God – for a humble renewal of that Onement. With the blessings and teachings of all beloved Masters working through all of You Acharyas – may we all join and become as One. Namaste
It is really so simple, Jyotish, why does God make it soooo challenging. I guess I know. We all need to find our way back to Divine Mother according to our karma. (“Even an ice cream cone?”)
My gratitude to you
Dear Jyotish,
Thank you so much for sharing. This will bring me, us again in the center.
In joy,
granita
Oh so beutiful! Yes, I do feel happy when I meditate and comminicate with that divine light. Thank you for helping me and so many others to learn to live in real happiness. God bless
How well explained: What happiness is, what mental attributes are required for it, impediments in achieving it and processes to overcome these. Can there be any further comments except to say practise what has been said?
Dear Nayaswamis Jyotish and Devi, I know I have already commented on your article “Is happiness a Choice” and this is not regarding that but rather an unusual request from me here as it’s the only way to get my message through. It is regarding the Pledge Meditation which is a wonderful way to spread the message of God’s Will etc. I took the Pledge ‘be the change’ and to meditate between 1 and two hours. However, I don’t know what happened as I had to keep repeating it as it kept coming up as 2 mins but after several attempts, I thought it was okay when I sent it to Nabha. However, when I received an email from him thanking me for taking the Pledge and stated 2 mins. I sent several messages to correct the amount of time but they failed so I sent more to Hesam to kindly pass on the correct time but they also failed and I tried other Ananda Sangha addresses but all failed to be sent. It would have been my error no doubt as I’ve explained before I cannot grasp technology very well but just wished to say that I am only too happy and thankful for the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful act. I hope that it is okay for me to make this request as I could/would never meditate for just 2 mins. It’s just that the truth is more encouraging but I don’t mean for me. God Bless you all and for creating the Pledge and may it spread worldwide like fire. Namaste
Dear Christine,
Thank you for letting us know. This is a very important campaign and we will make sure that your comment gets to the right people and that this gets fixed quickly. In your case, it may be that you would need to enter 120 minutes, but that is not intuitive either, so we need to fix the system.
Thank you so much for this.