Looking for Happiness
Divine Life
Society Publication: Chapter 18 Your Questions
Answered by Swami
Krishnananda
SWAMIJI: What is your final
aim?
Visitor: I think,
speaking philosophically, joy or peace is what we all want, whether we seek it
in business, or love, or religion.
SWAMIJI: In a life which is characterized
by momentariness and fluxation, with temporality reigning supreme everywhere,
and nothing permanent worth the while, with no control finally over anything,
what kind of happiness are you expecting in this world? Perhaps happiness that
is going to be enduring and not merely fleeting cannot be had in a world which
is fleeting by its nature.
Nobody can be happy in this
world, yet it is happiness that we seek. It looks like a contradiction in our
approach. Being involved in a world of fluxation and temporality, how do you
expect permanent happiness? Yet our heart seems to be yearning for permanent
happiness. It doesn't want a joy for one moment, and destruction the next
moment.
Actually, the joy that we seek
is super-physical, super-terrestrial; it is transcendent. All that we
empirically experience, sensorially perceive or contact, what we feel
psychologically in terms of sense perception is not the joy that we seek,
finally. There is a transcendent super-physical element operating in us, and if
you can contact that transcendent element in your own self or in the world, you
may be contacting the source of your joy. This is the work of religion.
Religion is nothing but the
art of contacting the source of real happiness which, as we have in this little
analysis found, is not to be had in this world. When I say "in this
world," I mean anything that is sensorially perceptible. Even this body is
not a reliable source of happiness, because it comes and goes.
This body was given birth to,
and it also will pass away some day. Would you like to connect your happiness
to a bodily existence which comes and goes? Would you like to have a joy which
comes and goes? You have already decided that you don't want such a kind of
joy. We want a joy which is always there and shall not leave us, but the body
has come, and it shall leave us. Our relations, property, the world, this body,
will all leave us. Where are we going to be finally? That you have to contact, by an
inner vision and an in-depth analysis of one's own self, and a meditation which
is called yoga, religion, metaphysics.
Direct action is necessary in
this connection; something has to be done about it. Meditation is a practice of
concentrating the consciousness on some thing, but what is that something? In kriya yoga there is a breathing
process prescribed on which you concentrate; that is one method. Meditation is
the art of contacting reality, and for that you have to first be sure what
reality is. You cannot concentrate on something which is not clear to the mind.
What are you wanting, finally?
On that you have to fix your attention. Whether you call it hatha yoga or kriya yoga or anything else is not
important. Fix your consciousness on your concept of final reality, and it
shall bless you. You have to decide yourself what is ultimately real, in
yourself or in the world; then fix your attention and attune your consciousness
with it. This is meditation. It has no particular name.
When you adopt certain
preparatory techniques which vary according to different schools, you call them
karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga, kriya yoga, kundalini yoga, etc. These names
are given only to the preparatory stages, but the final end is the same in all
cases. It is a plunge into reality. What is reality? This requires a knowledge
which is obtained from the teacher. Everyone has to approach a teacher for this
purpose. A Guru is necessary.
Each one has a concept of the Ultimate
Being; on that you concentrate. The word "ultimate" implies the
finality of it, and there is nothing above it. When you ask for it, you need
not ask for anything else. On that you fix your mind. This is the whole of
religion, philosophy, and yoga.
Excerpts from:
Looking for Happiness - Chapter 18 Your Questions
Answered by Swami
Krishnananda
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