Happiness: A state of Inner Consciousness

All of us are affected by the duality of nature. We tend to think: this event is good, that thing is bad, and so on. But actually, events and other external circumstances are indifferent to tags such as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. It is our conditioned reaction to the external that generates a sensation of happiness or distress.

Let me narrate an anecdote I read in a book a few days back: A student approached a teacher to learn the secret of happiness. His only belongings were in a bag. The teacher, all of a sudden, took his bag and ran away. The student pursued him, but the teacher managed to dodge him in the maze of narrow by-lanes. Finally, the teacher returned and placed the bag before the student. The student immediately pounced upon the bag.

The teacher asked him “How do you feel?” The student replied “I feel very happy.” To this the teacher asked “Why so?” The student replied “Because I have got back my bag.” The teacher then said “But you had the bag with you even before you came to see me. Did you not experience the much sought-after happiness then?”

Happiness is not determined by external events; it is driven by our inner consciousness.

People get unhappy over trifles. “When people want to be happy, it means they are not happy at present. This creates an inner war between them and their desire to be happy”, says a Bangalore based Swamiji. “The only way to end our inner conflict is by cultivating a sense of happiness within ourselves, a sense that is independent of external circumstances.”

We only expend unnecessary energy when we get distressed. The highest mode of material nature is Sattva, or tranquillity. Let us learn to enjoy life as it approaches us and let us not get distressed by temporary events. In that way we can savour life.