THE ILLUSION OF UNHAPPINESS
Happiness is latent in man, but he cannot find it. Happiness is synonymous with Divinity. Happiness is joy, and if that joy, that Divine something, is omnipresent, then what is there to find? It is there, here, and now.
But why do we feel sad, why do we suffer, and where does that suffering come from? The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. The peace is always there within you, yet that peace is so clouded over, coloured over, that we do not seem to see it. What comes in the way? Most people think that the suffering they have is always external – the mother-in-law is terrible, the boss is awful, you want to punch him in the nose. The wife sometimes gets cross and gives you a sour face, and the husbands are not too perfect either.
So, we blame all our suffering and misery on the environment, but there is no suffering and despair in the environment. If someone swears at you, you will feel hurt, and that hurt is done; you will be unhappy. But if you are deaf and do not hear him swearing, will you be disappointed? No, you have not heard it. So, the point is this: the unhappiness is in your mind. Happiness is not in the mind, but unhappiness, so-called, is in the mind because it is only the mind that interprets and evaluates a situation. So, what qualities of the mind can assess a situation? Can the mind evaluate a situation? No, because every situation is evaluated differently by different people.
Something that might be joyful to one might be painful to another, yet it is still the same situation and environment. If you go to live in the Himalayas, you will find it so cold, unbearably cold, while the people living there will find it very pleasant. I might come to England and find your weather so overcast and dull. It gets dark at half past three or four o’clock, while in South Africa, the sun shines until late, at seven, eight, or nine, even in winter. So, it is ‘I’ that interprets things. The man is in business trouble; for example, he has a load of creditors knocking on his door, and it worries him, and naturally, it should. But how much do we allow circumstances to affect us? There lies the secret of a good, happy life.
AWARENESS TRANSFORMS EVERYTHING
One’s previous experiences usually guide the interpretation of a situation. In the subconscious mind, we have these cubbyholes of stored information, so when any situation arises, the conscious mind immediately and automatically transmits the present situation to the subconscious. It draws out from those cubby holes things that have happened before, distasteful things. So, the distastefulness of the present situation is amplified and strengthened.
What is the answer for us human beings? What can be done about it?
There is only one way, and that is to go beyond the mind, for then only the peace beyond understanding can be found. Understanding is of the mind. As greater and greater awareness is gained, as more and more of the brain cells, twelve billion of them, in this little box up here, as more and more of them are enlivened through meditational and spiritual practices, more and more of the Inner Self can filter through, and greater awareness develops.
Greater awareness means not looking at anything from a narrow perspective. When we stand down here and view an object, it appears small. However, when we reach a greater height of understanding, as if standing on a hill, a more panoramic view becomes visible. This occurs through meditative practices. So, when this happens through meditational practices and greater awareness develops, all happenings assume a different proportion. A greater understanding filters through into the conscious, evaluating mind, where things will be seen more positively.
There is nothing in this world that is bad. I told someone the other day that even human excrement is not harmful. Without that ability, that biological function, you will die, so is it not good? It can then be used as a fertilizer to aid in plant growth. Various manures are recycled into the food, and the energy is given to the ground and the food you eat. So, what are you eating, and what is so bad about it? Everything goes in cycles. This entire universe exists in its cyclical form, which might seem like misery today, but looking back on it in retrospect, you will find that it was not misery; it was an excellent lesson. Why did I not have the sense at that time to recognise the lesson contained therein? Why did I look upon it as misery? So, my wife divorced me. Being human, it will naturally be a jar; she runs off with another man. But because of a lack of understanding and looking back at that temporary hurt, you will find that you have opened yourself more and more because of the hammering you received. Examining the hatred poured upon you, you will discover the meaning of love. Sometimes the opposite is needed to bring out certain truths that lie within you, and the knowledge of truth, the knowing of truth, brings you happiness.
I want to share an example from my life: I was involved in a large business, and my partners took nearly two million Rand from me, leaving me financially broke. But what an opportunity in that adversity. I might still be wallowing in that mire of wealth, not doing what I am doing today, serving humanity. Do you see the great advantage in everything? I felt very miserable. They were thieves.
We find thieves like that in this world. One day, a woman was in church and left her handbag behind. She got into her car and suddenly remembered her handbag, so she returned to the church. When she looked where she had been sitting, the handbag was gone. While she was wondering what to do, the Minister came along and told her, “I know you are looking for your handbag, aren’t you? Well, I have taken it for safekeeping.” So, this lady says, “I am sure nobody would steal in Church.” So, the Minister says, “Eh, you might be right, I suppose so, but someone might have seen it and would have said this is an answer to my prayer.”
THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS
So, we believe that we are miserable. Belief in a positive way is beneficial, but belief in a negative way can be detrimental, as it can lower your understanding of circumstances. The trouble is that we hold the wrong beliefs because we lack the proper type of faith. How about having this assumption that whatever unhappiness I am going through is because of my actions? Divinity is not unjust; whatever happens to me is according to the Law of Karma. Whatever I have sown, I am reaping now.
The secret lies in whatever I reap now. Let me see the silver lining in this dark cloud and the opportunity in this adversity. Then that belief becomes faith. So, one should not misbelieve. Like this one chap was taken to jail, and he was barely a month out of jail, so the warder spoke to him and said, “Look, you were here just a month ago, and I helped so much to get you on parole, and here in a month you are back. Why did you do it? What did you do?” So, the prisoner says, “Oh, it was because of my belief.” He said, “What do you mean, belief?” He said, “Well, I believed that the alarm system at the jewellery store was disconnected.” So, if I believe I am unhappy, I will be disappointed. Why must I blame outward circumstances? Why? I, and no one else but me, am making myself sad.
So, the secret of happiness lies in transcending the mind through meditation, thereby developing greater awareness. By cultivating greater awareness, a deeper understanding dawns upon you. You do not need to find it; that understanding just dawns. You know that very, very favourite stanza of mine, which I have repeated a million times, “Two men behind prison bars, one saw mud, the other saw stars.” It is terrific; I love it so much. They are both in the same circumstances: one is happy, the other is unhappy, one sees gloom, and the other sees glory.
LOOKING THROUGH THE EYES OF ETERNITY
So, there is no such thing as unhappiness; that is to be remembered. Unhappiness is a creation of a limited mind and often a distorted one. Human beings are unaware of the perversions of their minds. They think they are normal, they think they are sane, but I can tell you one thing, that there are more insane people outside an asylum than in it. At least those people are so far gone; they are okay and in good hands. So, we produce the insanity of misery; we make it in ourselves.
I speak of hope, I speak of courage, I speak of strength. I speak of developing the ability to view any situation objectively through spiritual practices. For now, one thing is for sure: you are Divine. Divinity permeates every cell of your blood. Every cell of your body is Divine.
A woman wanted a child so much, and because of her health or other circumstances, she lost the child at childbirth. We know it is a great hurt, but how about thinking of it this way? Is that child or was that child mine? Does the child belong to me, or was I just the instrument through which it was to be brought into this world? That child does not belong to you. You do not belong to yourself. Everything belongs to Divinity. Perhaps the child needed just that experience of birth to give it a push on its path of evolution. The karmic values of its previous life were such that the child required that experience. So, you have been working for nature. Thanks to God, He has allowed her to help this little soul advance. Remember, the soul is immortal, indestructible, and eternal. The soul is never destroyed; it cannot be. Neither is the human body ever destroyed at death; it reverts into its original elements. Nothing is lost.
By looking at it from that angle, the pain, the misery, and the unhappiness will be reduced, and gradually they will go away. For nothing is lost. The musician plays a Divine melody through his flute. It is heard now, and then the sound vanishes into your ears. However, it has not vanished; it remains there in the cosmos. It is floating around, so one day, that very composition of yours, that very thought of yours, will be picked up by a person of a similar mind. That is what all music, poetry, and art are made of. Your mind is tuned to all the thought waves floating around the universe. So that child’s soul is immortal and eternal, waiting perhaps to retake birth, and you have helped it in its path of evolution.
THINK OF YOURSELF AS BEING ETERNAL, AND THERE WILL BE NO UNHAPPINESS EXISTING
By developing these understandings, by realizing that nothing is destroyed, everything is eternal, and everything in this world and this universe is in its proper place, you will realize that every happening that occurs must happen; it is unavoidable, for it is all part of the flow of Divine Grace. It is all in the flow of evolution, and whatever happens will always lead you to Divinity. There is nowhere else to go. It all goes there. It is rediscovery, an unfoldment.
Circumstances might seem adverse to you now, but remember, in the whole scheme of things, in the scheme of the immortal Spirit, this very life is nothing but a flicker of a second and even less. So, come what may, I accept it and, having found the sense of acceptance, I surrender it to whom it belongs. Nothing belongs to you; nothing belongs to me. We are little waves on this eternal ocean. The wave cannot claim individuality for itself; there is just a rising in this vast ocean of the universe. So, what is there to despair about? Where is unhappiness? When the wave crashes against the rocks due to the currents against the stones, it does not feel unhappy. No, the ocean is smashing itself against the rocks, not the wave.
So, when you think of yourself as an individual wave, naturally, you feel hurt. But when you think of yourself as that eternal entity, indestructible, then where is the question of unhappiness? There is no unhappiness existent, none. It is an interpretation, and often an aberration, of the mind. It is a severe limitation not to look at anything in its proper context. We look upon situations with blinkers. We cannot see this way or that, like a horse with blinkers, he only sees in front. Remove the blinkers. Through spiritual practices, they are dissolved and removed. Limitations of the mind disappear, and you do not need to be an intellectual; you do not need to analyse. It is to take the conscious energies that you are now aware of to the deeper layers of yourself, to the finer and finer and more subtle energies that are far more powerful, and allow those subtle energies to permeate the conscious thinking mind.
The conscious thinking mind is necessary; it is required; otherwise, you would not be who you are. It is essential, but why must we attach so much importance to it? After all, what is your conscious mind, nothing but a whole lot of thoughts gathered together and filtered through the brain cells. The brain cannot think; it is only an instrument. It is just many thoughts that got together and filtered themselves. So in the mixture of those thoughts, various elements exist. Those elements are made up of past experiences. When these past experiences can be clarified through meditation, they can be smoothed out, much like a homemaker ironing a bedsheet, with all the wrinkles removed. It requires a hot iron, and the heat we need is the heat of determination and perseverance to iron out those wrinkles in what we know as the mind. For so little is known of the mind. The mind that people usually refer to, the conscious mind, is just a tiny part of a vast continuum, extending to the subconscious and the superconscious levels, which are so extensive. The conscious mind is just a small bucket standing on the shore of a vast ocean. That is all that it is.
ENJOY THE PRESENT NOW, THE HERE AND NOW
Instead of swimming and enjoying ourselves in a vast ocean, we are drowning ourselves in a bucket. That is what we are doing. Whenever any unhappy thought arises, remember that the unhappy thought is not of the present; an unhappy thought is felt now because of the past or future. You feel sad, “Oh, my girlfriend might not love me in the future, or I might lose my business.” Those are fears, and fears produce anxieties, which in turn lead to various organic diseases. It is the mind, just our thoughts, not necessarily of this life, but of previous lives, that translate themselves into their physical equivalent. Do you see how it works? What a cycle it is!
So, whenever a painful thought wells up within us, try to objectify that thought. Look at it unemotionally. That isn’t easy, but when strength is gained through meditation, it becomes easier and easier to see the truth behind it. How long will it last? How long is it going to last? By analysing it in that way, you will surely know that it disappears tomorrow, and I am ruining a perfect present. I cannot alter the past, but I am ruining an ideal present, which will, in turn, affect the future. See the chain of events? So, why worry about things you cannot alter, and who knows what the future holds? Enjoy the present moment, the here and now. For all these miseries are intrusions upon your Real Self. They are intrusions. They are to be kicked in the backside. They can be discarded.
It is not tricky, but then of course, if you can discard them yourself, what about the poor Psychiatrists and Psychologists, they will starve. So, a little help is needed, so teachers like me are there to inspire, give hope and strength, and impart spiritual force. Therefore, I always start with a prayer of St. Francis, “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace.” For peace is forever there, and instruments only help. So many thousands of broadcasts from various radio stations are in this room here and now, but the instrument, the radio, is required to receive them. Very, very simple.
YOUR BIRTHRIGHT IS JOY
So, no one is essentially unhappy. Your birthright is eternal happiness because you are the infinite Spirit. All that you find to be miserable is but interpretations of the mind, and they are non-eternal and superficial and false, because it is a trick of the cunning animal which I call the mind; I always call it a wily animal. It is a trick of the mind to make you unhappy, and when the mind plays these tricks, who is it making you unhappy? The mind is making itself unhappy because unhappiness is only felt by the mind. So, within the workings and conflicts of the various elements of gathered thoughts over so many lifetimes, they clash, creating turmoil. But look at it another way: Is this turmoil necessary, or how else will you evolve? How else are you going to find your Real Self without this turmoil? The finest steel is made in the most significant heat, so we need it. But bravely we face it with the knowledge that this too must pass. This, too, must pass.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1982 – 01
