What is life? It can be said, that it is a stream of
experiences, of happiness and unhappiness and whatever comes in between.
What is an experience? It is one’s relationship to
the world, I as the subject, the world as the object. In other words, when the
subject I contacts the world, there arises an experience.
The effect of science on the world
Scientists have focused on the world, with the
intention of making it a better place. Yet despite all the advances and comfort
it has achieved, the level of stress and anxiety in the world has not been
reduced, in fact it has drastically increased.
What went wrong?
How have the thinkers and sages viewed the world?
They have focused on the subject, on you and me’, on the human potential by
asking the question, how can one find happiness in a world of constant change?
They suggested that to function well in life we need
to have motivation, we need to be inspired, but from where can we get our
inspiration? They have concluded that to be motivated and inspired, one needs
to have purpose in life, a high ideal, beyond one’s self interest. We know that
we all have different purposes in life; ideally they are based on our intrinsic
nature.
How do we know, that our purpose is in accord with
our intrinsic nature? We know it, while pursuing our goal, we feel happy and
fulfilled, whereas without purpose, without inspiration, life is dull and
lethargic.
What is happiness?
Is happiness in the world, or is it in us? As an
example let’s take a look at people eating a particular food. One person may
like it, yet another will dislike it. So is the enjoyment in the food, or is it
in us? The answer may be obvious, but is it? What does this reveal?
It tells us,
that happiness and sorrow is not in the objective world, it is in how we relate
to the world. If our mind is happy the world is fine, if our mind is unhappy
the world is a hostile place.
Going still deeper, happiness is not in our
personality, it is of our very nature. We are happiness, we are love.
Why then are we seeking happiness in the world?
We seek it in the world out of sheer ignorance. This
reminds me of the story of two friends going for a stroll in the evening. There
is a bright full moon. One says to the other: I just love the bright light
shining from the moon. The other replies, there is no light in the moon. The
friend gets all upset and says, what do you mean, I see the moonlight and so do
you. Where after his companion tells him that the light he perceives in the
moon is nothing but a reflection of the sun.
What do the wise say tell us about happiness?
The wise say it is good to work in the world out of
happiness and love, whereas the unwise work in the world for happiness.
The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said: ‘It
is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impassible to find it
anywhere else’.
We need to realize, that spirituality in whatever
form we individually perceive it, is not a passive endeavor, but rather a
means for anyone who wants to make life meaningful.
BODY MIND INTELLECT
PERCEIVE R FEELER THINKER
OBJECT EMOTION THOUGHTS
From gross to subtle
Notes:
When we identify with the body, we become the
perceiver of the sense objects.
When we identify with the mind, we become the
feeler of the emotions.
When we identify with the intellect, we become the
thinker of different thoughts.
By saying, this is my body, these are my feelings,
these are my thoughts, the question to be answered is, who is making these
statements? It is the real I, the Self.
Sat, Chit, Ananda, Ever Existing, Ever Conscious,
Bliss
We have all these great faculties to fulfill our
obligations, what really matters is, how we go about fulfilling the.
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