(Talk by Swami Shivaprakashananda transcribed by Smt. Geeta Nichlani)
In our Scriptures –Bhagwat Geeta as well as Upanishads, ‘happiness’ is referred to by the words ANANDA and SUKHA. Sometimes you find the word ‘Ananda’ and sometimes the word ‘Sukha’. Both mean ‘Happiness’.
All our pursuits are basically pursuits of happiness. Irrespective of who we are and what we do, we seek happiness.
A gentleman comes to me and says that he is going on a foreign trip on a holiday. I asked him--“Where will you go?”
He answered that he will go to Kenya in Africa and from there to another African country -Rwanda.
I asked him’” What do you want to do there?”
He said –“I want to go to the forest and want to see the Gorillas in the wild!”
He wants to have darshan of the Gorilla!
He has to go all the way to Rwanda and then go to the forest and have a glimpse of the Gorilla!
I asked him – “Why do you want to do it?”
He answers –“It will make me happy!”
Having a glimpse of the Gorilla is going to make him happy and that is why he has to go all the way to Rwanda and have darshan of the Gorilla!
So, even the Gorilla pursuit is a pursuit of happiness!
This gentleman wants to go to Rwanda and have darshan of the Gorilla!
Then there is a Bhakta—a great devotee of Bhagavan. He doesn’t have to see the face of the Gorilla for happiness. Instead he finds happiness by having the darshan of Bhagavan.
He goes to the temple. Sometimes in the deep recesses of the Himalayan mountains, withstanding all the difficulties of the cold.
He goes all the way to Badrinath and gets darshan of Badri Narayan. Why does he go there?
He gets happiness!
There is much more happiness in the glimpse of Bhagavan.
I generally use the word ‘Bhagavan’ instead of the word ‘God’ because the word Bhagavan makes much sense to me.
It is a very meaningful word.
Bhagah asya Asti iti Bhagawan.
One who has all the glories is ‘BHAGAVAN’.
In our culture, we understand the beauty of Bhagavan.
Not only do we understand the beauty of Bhagavan we also understand that beauty IS Bhagavan!
Bhagavan is beauty! He is a repository of beauty.
There is a ‘work’ called Narayaneeyam.
There was a great saint in Kerala who wrote this work called Narayaneeyam.
It is the condensation of the Bhagavatam.
It is a work of beautiful poetic verses in Sanskrit.
There is a story behind Narayana Bhattathiri who had a disease called VATA Roga ( Rheumatism).
Seeking a cure for the disease he went to Bhagavan Krishna’s temple in Guruvayoor. He lived there for forty days and each day he composed ten verses and that is how the Narayaneeyam was composed.
By the forty first day his disease was gone by the grace of Guruvayoor Appa!
Narayana Bhattathiri writes in his work –
सौन्दर्यैकरसात्मके त्वयि खलु प्रेम्प्रकर्षात्मिका ।
भक्ति र्निश्रममेव विश्वपुरुषैर्लभ्या रमावल्लभ ॥
Bhakti is intense love for Bhagavan, who is सौन्दर्यैकरसात्मक, meaning, all beauty.
Tulsidas describes Rama as the ocean of beauty!
Sindhu means ocean. An ocean of charm.
The charm of Bhagavan is described in our Shastras.
Whether it is the Ramayana, Bhagwatam, Devi Purana or Shiv Purana.
The beauty was discovered by our great Rishis. They saw the beautiful form of Bhagwan and wrote it.
A devotee can meditate on the form of Bhagwan following the description in the Shastras and he can also get a glimpse of Bhagwan!
That is why all our devotees sang –
“दर्शन दो घनश्याम नाथ मोरी अखियाँ प्यासी रे”
Darshan do Ghanshyam Nath mori Ankhinya pyaasi re!
Please give me darshan. I would like to see your form. Many Bhaktas have described their vision of Bhagwan and when there is vision of Bhagwan then there is true happiness.
This happiness cannot be described in words! Narada says in ‘Narada Bhakti Sutras’.
मूकास्वादनवत्
It is like a dumb person enjoying the best kind of sweet. Whether it is Rasgulla or Raj Bhog. Even a dumb person can enjoy it but he cannot describe it.
Likewise, a Bhakta cannot describe the joy of connection to Bhagwan.
We relate to Bhagwan in various forms. In the form of Ram, Krishna and in the form of Shiva or in the form of Devi.
We experience the presence of Bhagwan. This is the greatest form of happiness.
Compared to this happiness the happiness of seeing a Gorilla is nowhere!
There was the great saint called Ramanuja. Most of you must have heard of him.
Ramanuja lived most of his life in Tamilnadu in Srirangam -Trichy. A young man came to Ramanuja and said that he has fallen in love with a girl.
Ramanuja asked him –“Why? What makes you fall in love with her?” ‘The boy replied –“Her eyes are the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen and it gives me happiness.”
Ramanuja says-“I can show you eyes that are more beautiful than the girl’s eyes.”
The gentleman says –“Are you sure?”
Ramanuja says-“Yes! I am sure.”
The gentleman was most eager to see the most beautiful eyes. Ramanuja asks him to come to the temple at the time of the Arati. That gentleman came at the right time of the Arati of Srirangam. All of you know how a Arati is performed. A flame of lamp is taken to all parts of Bhagwan and the part that gets illuminated.
The Arati flame went from feet to the hand and then fell on the eyes of Ranganatha Swami. The gentleman saw the eyes of Ranganatha Swami and discovered the beauty of the eyes of Rangantha Swami. They are the most beautiful eyes that he ever saw. All his attraction to the world was gone because he found greatest beauty and greatest happiness in the eyes of Ranganatha. "The eyes which have not seen the eyes of Ranganatha are of no use." Thus says a devotee poet of Karnataka.
True beauty is in Bhagwan. Happiness is in Bhagwan. When you get the happiness of Bhagwan, all other happiness become redundant. Many Saints have said so.
In Bhagwatam, Krishna’s beauty is described by the Gopis as follws:
It makes you forget all other desires.
There was a Saint in Calcutta who lived in the nineteenth century. You all know his name---Ramakrishna. He used to sing a song composed by another great Bengali Saint who was a devotee of Kali.
“When my mind dived deep in the lotus feet of Kali the taste of ‘Vishaya’ – the taste of sense enjoyment became insignificant. It is the divine happiness. That is the happiness you find in Bhagwan. In fact, Bhagwan is the source of all happiness.
All happiness IS Bhagwan and that is why He is called ‘RAMA’.
The very meaning of the word Rama is-- रमन्ते अस्मिन् योगिनः इति राम्ः। The source of all happiness in who all spiritual people revel is Rama. This Rama who lived in Ayodhya is an avatara of Bhagwan Himself.
Throughout history many great Saints have found happiness in thinking of Rama, in meditation of Rama. They wrote about Rama. There are so many Ramayanas both in and outside India.
Even in Thailand or Cambodia there are Ramayanas. The King of Thailand called himself Rama and the capital of Thailand was Ayuthaya.
So, Ram is the source of happiness-the source of joy.
In fact, we have the concept of daharayodhya - Ayodhya in heart. There is Ayodhya in all of us. Sadashiva Brahmendra was a great Saint in Tamilnadu. He composed songs on Rama and in one of the songs he says-“Daharayodhya-nagara-vihari”, Rama is living in Ayodhya in my heart! We meditate on the heart as Ayodhya visualising Shri Rama-chandra. It is a beautiful form of meditation.
Since Ayodhya is there in all our hearts no one could destroy Ayodhya even after so many centuries. In fact, the very word Ayodhya means that which cannot be conquered. Na yodhya Ayodhya. You cannot fight it or conquer it as it is there in everyone’s heart and that is why the temple of Ayodhya is rising up once again.
So, true happiness is in Bhagwan, in Ishwar, in God! This happiness is what we all are pursuing. Even if we want any particular object like a computer or a sweet or a car or a holiday or even a gorilla ---all this is a pursuit of happiness.
We are seeking happiness. Then there is a problem. Are we able to specify the kind of happiness we are looking for? If we want a particular object, we know how to specify the object. We specify the size, the length and the breadth!
If you want a shirt, you know how to specify it. Whether you want an X size or a large size. All of us know how to specify. Even for tea there is a specification. For coffee there is a specification: how many spoons of sugar, how much of milk we want, etc. We know how to specify our food and our clothes and so on.
But, do we know how to specify HAPPINESS?
Have we ever thought of this? Specifying happiness.
What kind of happiness do I want?
If we think we can specify happiness –
First of all we don’t want temporary happiness. We want permanent happiness. ‘Nitya Sukha’.
In Sanskrit, permanent is called ‘nitya’. We want permanent Sukha—‘Nitya Sukha or Nitya Anand’
This is specification number one.
Then specification number two.
Do we want happiness that is dependent on something else or do we want happiness that is not dependent on anything else?
Let me clarify this question.
Sometimes we are happy as long and as far as another person allows us to be happy.
An office going person is happy as long as his boss allows him to be happy.
If the boss is in a good mood then he is happy.
If the boss is in a bad mood then all happiness is gone!
One day this boss comes to work after a fight with his wife at home. As soon as he comes, he shows a frowning face and he spoils this person's day.
This is dependent happiness. We don’t want dependent happiness. My happiness should be independent of the mood of my boss. It is called independent happiness.
‘Nirapeksha’ निरपेक्ष – means not dependent on anything. We want ‘Nirapeksha Sukha’ निरपेक्ष सुख. This is specification number two.
Then there is specification number three. This is also important. My happiness should be unsurpassed. It’s not that I got some amount of happiness and I can get even more. The possibility of ‘more’ makes me look upwards.
‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ ये दिल माँगे मोर
As long as we want more, there is no happiness. It should not be surpassable. It should be ultimate. I should not seek for further happiness. I should have enough satisfaction - fulfilment. This is called ‘Niratishaya Sukha’— निरतिशय सुखः unsurpassable happiness.
This is specification number three.
‘Niratishaya Sukha’.
So we have three specifications.
1.Nitya Sukha - permanent happiness.
2.Nirpeksha Sukha -independent happiness.
3.Niratishaya Sukha - unsurpassable happiness.
We are all struggling for this kind of happiness, whether we are aware of it or not.
Generally, in life, we were not taught how to specify happiness. We were taught how to specify other things in life but we were not taught how to specify happiness.
As long as we are not taught how to specify happiness we do not know where to look for it.
So, now this is the happiness we need—
‘Nitya’, ‘Nirapeksha’, ‘Niratishaya Sukha.’
नित्य
निरपेक्ष
निरतिशय
Where to find this happiness?
Generally, we look outward in the external sources.
Maybe in relatives. We seek happiness in relations.
Unfortunately, no relative can give us permanent happiness as no relation is permanent.
‘Samyogah Viprayogantah’
All associations are subject to disassociation.
No relation is permanent. We can look for happiness in wealth but even wealth cannot promise permanent happiness because how long do we own our wealth?
As long as we are in this body at the maximum.
When we leave this body, we are no longer owners of what we possess. We have to leave everything in this world.
Whether it is our house or our bank account—whatever!
We leave everything and go and someone else takes it over whether we like it or not.
It goes to my daughter and my son-in-law. Whether I like my son in law or not, he will make use of it.
And if I am born as a dog in the neighbourhood, I will just keep barking. My son-in-law gets a bulldozer and demolishes the beautiful house that I built, as I continue my barking!
So, you cannot find permanent happiness in a relationship. You cannot find in possessions, in wealth, in social status, in name and fame. No!
Then where to find it?
Shankaracharya says in his simplest work –
‘Bhaja Govindam.’
“Bhaja Govindam.
Bhaja Govindam Mudha Mate.”
Mudha means one who is deluded. One who is looking for happiness in the external word is ‘Mudha’/ मूढ़
He doesn’t say that the person is Mudha /मूढ़.
‘Mudha Mati’ मूढ़ मति
The ‘MATI ‘ मति is Mudha मूढ़ .
There is delusion in the mind because our mind generally gets attracted to external objects and the mind seeks happiness in the external objects.
So, he is addressing the mind.
Oh! Mind. Don’t get deluded. The world is not going to give you permanent happiness. It can give you some temporary happiness but if you want this ‘Sukha’—the permanent, unsurpassable and independent happiness then do not seek it in the world and instead seek it in Govinda.
‘Bhaja Govindam’
Take refuge at Govinda.
Govinda is Bhagwan.
Govinda is the true source of happiness.
All our Shastras talk of Bhagwan as –‘The Happiness.’
Vedanta gives us the word—Brahman.
Brahman is the Bhagwan. The Ishwar.
Brahman is ‘Ananda.’ आनन्द
That is the true happiness.
The Upanishads have also discovered that there is no happiness in anything limited because when there is limitation it is always associated with unhappiness.
Anything finite, anything limited cannot give happiness because anything limited is a punishment.
Limitation is a punishment and that is why there are prisons in the world. If you have to punish something then you have to confine. Confinement is punishment.
That means that there is no happiness in confinement. Then where is happiness?
Chandogya Upanishad, one of the most prominent Upanishads makes the statement—
‘Na alpe sukham asti, Bhuma eva sukham’
There is no Sukha –in ‘Alpa /अल्प. There is no happiness in -limited. If there is happiness it is –‘Bhuma/ भूमा’. The infinite.
The infinite is Brahman.
Infinite is Govinda. This infinite is Bhagawan.
There are so many words. Brahman, Bhagawan, Ishwara, Govinda and each word has its own meaning.
In our language every word has a profound meaning, including our names.
So, this Brahman is inside all of us.
ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति।
īśvaraḥ
