The Ultimate Secret of Happiness

All living beings yearn for happiness. Among the living beings, human beings are a set of species who take decisions for being joyful in the future. It doesn’t stop at that. People want to be eternally happy. Logically following, to be eternally happy, there needs to be an eternal source of happiness. Such an entity (if it exists in this world) can henceforth be called an “Uninterrupted Pleasure Source” (UPS). This UPS varies from individual to individual. For a child, it could be ice-creams, toys, chocolates whereas for a youth, it could be his/her spouse, money, job, home etc.

However, mature individuals must step back a little and introspect whether this so called UPS is really an eternally source of happiness. Is it possible to lean on a so called “eternally” existing source of happiness? For example, can a child derive happiness from the ice cream for its entire life. The source of this eternal happiness also shifts over a period of time. But is the new source of happiness an eternal one ?

The source of happiness from the external world is subject to factors beyond human control. The external world is unpredictable, uncontrollable and unsustainable. For example, the existence of your spouse (external world) would give pleasure to you today.In the absence of that person (external world) one’s pleasure vanishes. In short, no worldly object(money, job, car, profession, spouse, house, parents etc.) can  give a human being eternal happiness as no such object exists. A person may loose all the objects mentioned above in a flash(so it is not eternal)..so how does one stay happy always ???

The only option human beings have is to rely on an immortal object for being eternally happy. You can call such an object by any name: “Self”, ”Atman”, ”Brahman”, ”God”, ”Consciousness”, ”Almighty” etc. This is the true Uninterrupted Pleasure Source.

Vedanta does not ask us to neglect the external sources of happiness (spouse, children, house, money, power etc.) Infact, Vedanta encourages us to enjoy these sources of happiness to the maximum extent possible. Our scriptures only want us keep reinforcing the thought in our minds that these objects of pleasure are temporary in nature. Drawing an analogy, Vedanta asks us to treat these external sources as the electricity (power) we receive from the local power board which is unpredictable, uncontrollable and unsustainable. The UPS is the generator one owns in his/her house that can be switched ON whenever the external power supply is lost. This would enable the individual to remain peaceful/calm/happy in the presence (of external source) or the absence (one derives joy from the individual’s inherent source in this case) of the external source of happiness.

Treat the pleasures from the external world as the power supply from the Electricity Board, but have a backup(UPS) – the diesel generator set ( which you own within yourself) This reservoir of power within every individual is called the Brahman – the consciousness which is the spark within every living object in this world. It enlivens your body. The spark is gone, you are gone!! No amount of external “recharging” can infuse life into it.

Human being’s perception about life is the exact reverse of this idea. They hold on to external objects thinking they would be able to enjoy their pleasures forever, but fail to realize that every such external object is temporary and is not worth holding on to tightly.

So, it is upto human beings to discover that he is a part of a blissful existence called the Brahman and must draw from this reservoir of happiness throughout his life. All the happiness (bliss) lies within yourself. That’s the true secret of happiness.

Jai Great Lakes !! Jai Hind !

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