Happy New Year 2010 From The SathyaSaiBaba Blog

Happy New Year 2010 From The SathyaSaiBaba Blog

Very Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year 2010

Blessed New Year 2010

H ours of happy times with friends and family
A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know – dont’ worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!

~ Author Unknown ~

H elping ever, hurting never
A lways remembering the three “P’s”:
P atience, Purity &
P erseverence
Y ields a fragrant breeze.

N ever fear when Sai is here.
E verywhere are his hands and feet.
W elcome all with love and cheer

Y ajur mandiram is the heart’s retreat…
E njoy His presence, enjoy His Love
A nanda Sai’s name we repeat again and again
R emembering Sai will bestow on all a joy-filled

2
0
1
0

“Happy New Year” In Different Languages:

• Chinese (Cantonese) – Sun nien fai lok
• Chinese (Mandarin) – Xin nian yu kuai
• Danish – Godt Nytår
• Dutch – Gelukkig nieuwjaar
• Farsi – Aide shoma mobarak
• French – Bonne année
• Gaelic – Aith-bhliain Fe Nhaise Dhuit
• German – Gutes Neues Jahr
• Hawaiian – Hauoli Makahiki Hou
• Hebrew – Shanah tovah
• Hindi (Indian) – Nav Varsh Ki Badhaai/ Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
• Hmong – Nyob zoo xyoo tshiab
• Indonesian – Elamat Tahun Baru
• Italian – Buon Capo d’Anno
• Japanese – Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu
• Norwegian – Godt Nyttår
• Pilipino (Tagalog) – Maligayang Bagong Taon
• Polish – Szczesliwego Nowego roku
• Portuguese – Feliz ano novo
• Puttaparth’ian – Om Sai Ram
• Romanian – La Multi Ani
• Russian – S Novym Godom
• Spanish – Feliz Año Nuevo
• Sudanese – Wilujeng Tahun Baru
• Swedish – Gott Nytt År
• Turkish – Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
• Welsh – Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Happy! Happy!

Sathya Sai Baba Happy

Happy! Happy!

Last summer, Pete, my husband, told me of a scientific meeting in New Delhi in February. He had submitted a paper! It was accepted! Now we faced the problem of funding. We knew we would have difficulty paying two fares. Pete applied for grants from several institutions here in the U.S. No money was available. We had almost given up hope. The meetings were a month away. I was sitting meditating, one Sunday, when Sathya Sai Baba appeared to me. I was so overjoyed. He had not come to me for almost four years. Three days later we got a cable from India. Money was being sent for my husband’s fare! We had only three weeks to prepare! Many obstacles appeared and disappeared through Sathya Sai Baba’s Grace.

At last we were off! Or so we thought. Our flight out of Los Angeles was fogged in and we missed our connecting flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Luckily, we got an almost empty flight (the other flight was full) to Tokyo. After a day there we were booked on a late night flight to Hong Kong. It was the beginning of Chinese New Year and many people were going to Hong Kong. We had to wait a long time in the crowded airport. My “jet lag” was becoming extreme. I felt so tired and off balance. My stomach was in a knot. I felt worried about the children who were all ill when we left. In particular, I was worried about Jesse, our nine year old boy, who because of allergies, always gets severe croup when he gets ill. He had croup the day we left.

We continued on to Hong Kong and then on to New Delhi. As we were getting closer and closer to Delhi, I felt my heart soar. Mother India! I felt the tremendous blessings of the Rishis and Saints. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks. Soon I would see my Beloved.

When we arrived in Bangalore we telephoned our friend, who was the mother of my husband’s former secretary in N.Y., who was a Baba devotee. Yes! They had received our letter and were expecting us. In fact, they said, we were very lucky as Swami had just arrived at Whitefield the day before.

Can you imagine my extreme joy to step on the sacred earth of Brindavan? I had kissed that earth in my dreams because I know His Feet had walked on it. I look the dust on my heart and head. It was all exactly as in my dreams; the trees, the pandal, the beautiful red earth, the crowd of people. We took our places in the Darshan line. After about five minutes, some one came out of Swami’s house and mentioned for us to go in! I was so dumbfounded, my heart, I felt, would stop beating! My husband sat down in the foyer with the other men and I and my two lady companions sat opposite. We were looking toward the center door, expecting Swami to come through there. Instead, I felt a rush and turned, He had come through a side door right next to us!

He was like the sun. So radiant. Words cannot describe the sweetness of this precious moment, beholding Him for the first time. Smiling, He came straight to me and in His golden voice, softly, said, “Where is your husband?” I gave Him a garland of flowers and touched His precious feet and then pointed Pete out to Sathya Sai Baba. Swami went over to Pete, and as he touched Swami’s Feet, Swami gently patted him on the shoulder several times and said “So happy. So happy. Good man. Good man.” Then He told Pete to “sit, sit,” and that He would be back in a minute.

When He returned, He came to me and called Pete over to us. He then related very personal details about us, clearly showing He is with us every moment. He assured us about several personal matters. Then I showed Him a photo of our children. He said, “Yes. Yes. I know.” I told him how Jesse was sick often with allergies. Swami then said, “Don’t worry. I will take care.” Then He said, “I give Prasad” And with a gesture I was to see many times in the next two weeks, He materialized Vibhuti into my hands, my husband’s and the women we were with. “Eat! Eat!” He said, and we licked it off our fingers like small children lick cookie batter from their hands!

Then Sathya Sai Baba brought out a red basket filled with Vibhuti packets and filled our hands till it was overflowing! Swami then signed a book for Pete and one for me. As He was signing my book, I knelt down and kissed the Precious Foot of my Lord. Six years had passed since the moment I knew He would stand before me. My heart’s desire had been fulfilled. Swami said several times, “So happy, So happy,” to us and “Good man! Good man!” to my husband. Then He said, “be happy,” to both of us and turned and went out to give Darshan.

Pete had to see people in Bangalore the next day, who want him to work with them (Swami’s Grace again) and so he missed Darshan that day. The following day he had to return to Delhi to begin his teaching. He was planning to go to morning Darshan before he left, but found out the airlines had listed his flight time incorrectly. His flight left before morning Darshan.

So, you see, Sathya Sai Baba knew Pete only had that one chance to see Him. I stayed on for two weeks and came to Whitefield every day. Just the sight of Swami coming through the gate was enough. To have Him so near, to have Him walk right by us, to see His Precious Form; to see the Beloved Feet and Hand, to hear His sublime, sweet voice brought such joy. How grateful we are to have had this most precious experience. I pray to see Swami in every being I meet and in every thing I see. How blessed we are to have Swami’s precious teaching of Divine Love before us.

- Mrs. Pete Engel, California

Sanathana Sarathi, August 1979

Reference

Can Money Alone Bring Happiness And Security?

Sathya Sai Baba

Can Money Alone Bring Happiness And Security?

Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam.

This week, we would like to briefly take you in a direction that you might not at all consider spiritual, namely economics, markets and all that. Having taken you on that detour, it shall then be our endeavour to convince you that wealth generation and the proper use of wealth cannot be divorced from Spirituality.

In a sense, economics and wealth dynamics are all about money. True, the concept of wealth goes back to the time when there was no currency and only barter. The advent of coins enabled wealth to be moved around more easily than moving bartered goods, and that was a major step forward. Let us say that five thousand years ago, two people do a barter exchanging a goat for some firewood. The man who receives the firewood has to carry it all the way back home. These days, however, when a villager sells a goat he gets cash, which he takes home; later he uses that cash to buy whatever he needs from the place where it is available. Money being “fluid”, it makes business easier than old style barter. In this age of electronic communications, new dimensions have been added to financial transaction. As someone remarked, money is no longer coins or even currency notes; it is a set of binary numbers in electronic code.

We are conscious that you are aware of all this but even so, this preamble would set the stage for what follows. Science and Technology have immensely aided manufacture, which in turn has spurred everything from trade and business to transportation and communication. For example, recent statistics show that the O’Hare Air Port in Chicago is the busiest in America, with roughly 500,000 plane landings and takeoffs in a six-month period! It is just amazing.

So what has all this got to do with Spirituality? Everything, because in one way or the other, it is all connected with money! Money is a great magnet, and few can resist its attraction. Sadhus might say they are not attracted to money, but it requires money to keep even Sadhus alive – someone has to give them charity! And the powerful attractor that money is, it tends to draw people out very much into the world in quest of money. Having drawn people into the world and got them hooked, money keeps the attention of such people rooted very much to the world. A man who has made a million starts thinking, “I am a millionaire now but how can I become a billionaire?” On the other hand, there might be a man who has borrowed heavily for some reason or the other, and he is all the time worried about how he is going to raise money to pay off his debts. With all this preoccupation with money, people lose sight of God and often with it, the quality of goodness. Of course there are others who, while worshipping money, have not entirely forgotten God, but for selfish reasons. They want God to be the Great Provider by giving them more money and still more money. This is nothing new and five thousand years ago, Krishna declared that this is one type of devotee, who unfailingly comes to Him!

Why is man attracted to money? It is all due to the Mind! As Swami says, the Mind of man can either make him look towards the world or inwards. If it looks outwards, then it easily succumbs to the attractions that the world provides in plenty. Man is then deluded into thinking that money is the royal road to all happiness. The connection to Spirituality is rooted in precisely this delusion that traps man; more about that later.

Money being at the heart of manufacture, trade, business, commerce, etc., is necessarily the engine of every conceivable economic system. For almost everyone today, being wealthy simply means having a lot of money. For about three hundred years or so, great thinkers have tried to formulate the basic principles of wealth generation, social well-being etc., and as a result, many theories of economics have come into existence. For some, well-being starts with opportunities for individual enterprise, making lots of money, minimal interference from the State, etc. This has led to the Capitalist system of economics, which, in recent times, has soared to the concept of absolute free-market economy cum globalisation. At the other end, we had, until recently, Communism that many countries went for, and “Scientific Socialism” which India opted for. As far as Communism as an economic philosophy is concerned, despite its strong ideological appeal at one time , it has now become more or less extinct, though there are still countries that are “Communist” as far as the political system of government is concerned. Scientific Socialism too is all but dead, despite some loyalists continuing to pay lip sympathy to it. Currently, the free-market philosophy with the “icing” of globalisation added to it is the dominant survivor, actively peddled by those who stand to gain much by it.

Today there is a lot of hype about the glory of globalisation and the free-market economy, but are they really the roaring successes they are claimed to be? It all depends on whom you ask. Those who have benefited from it would undoubtedly hail it in the most flattering terms. But if you ask the millions and millions who have been left out, nay sacrificed, it is a different story.

The free market philosophy is focussed almost entirely on wealth generation for a few, the shareholders. If others benefit by the process, that is purely incidental. Though many may be involved in the market processes as employees of various sorts, when it comes to brass tacks, it is a few that determine the fate of many. Throughout history, it has often been this way, but the power of modern technology has enormously magnified the impact factor.

In the last couple of decades, high power technology and high power business have affected people all over the world in many ways, creating in general a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots in all countries with big economies. Even in America , once the dreamland where the poor could become rich by working hard, they now say that if you are poor, you had better get out of America . If that is what is happening in America , the situation in the “newly emerging economies” like China and India is even worse. One might say, “Sorry that is inevitable in a free-market economy; that’s the way the cookie crumbles.” Maybe, but when hundreds of millions suffer, Society as a whole pays a price, and a big one too, that inevitably would one day impact those in the comfort zone also.

What we are driving at is that it is no longer enough to talk in terms of “costs”, “efficiency”, “profitability”, etc., as calculated by accountants and finance experts in big Corporations. Costs and profits may mean a lot to shareholders, but Corporations exist in the midst of Society and what happens to Society eventually makes an impact on everyone, including industry, business and finance. Thus, the business sector cannot clinically exclude from its considerations, the public who are STAKEHOLDERS. If it does, then while it may enjoy short-term gains, in the long run it too would have to pay, and heavily too. As someone said, one cannot have an island of prosperity in an ocean of misery.

Where the human race is concerned, everyone is a stakeholder. This important point has been consistently ignored in the past, but it no longer can be, especially in this age of high technology and fast communications. These days, when smoke clouds are produced by the burning of huge forests in one country they choke people in another country. Excessive fishing by the big fishing corporations of one country can ruin the poor fishermen of another country. Massive emission by hundreds of millions of vehicles in one or more rich countries now threatens the climate of the entire planet. So on the examples go. In every case, there is a price to pay and that price is paid by Society. In some cases, the price is paid by people in the same country where the problem originates, while in other cases it is people elsewhere that pay the price. And in some cases, everyone pays the price, no matter where.

We cannot go into all the details here but the essential point is that when there are huge imbalances, there will necessarily be conflict, violence, large-scale suffering, etc. Violence, cruelty and exploitation have no doubt been always present in mankind, but what makes the current situation frightening is the scale.

Which brings us to our central point: It is time to move away from socio-economic philosophies that focus on profits for a few to a philosophy that is wedded to the well-being of all. Currently, there is too much importance given to individual and corporate enterprise, and very little, if at all, to Society. This precisely is where Swami’s teachings come strongly into the picture. Swami says that without self-control, and we stress the prefix self, the human Mind would inevitably tend to seek self-advantage and focus entirely on the short term. This may appear to be very rewarding but the advantages that seem to accrue are illusory. As Swami says [this was in a recent Sai Inspires Message], “Human existence is enveloped in infatuation,” often with money we might add.

So what is the alternative? Sathya Sai Baba says that the starting point of how one views oneself ought not to be the lower self [which is the one that wants profit in a hurry etc.,] but the Higher Self or God. Next, one must realise that God the Creator brought Creation/Nature into existence. Society is a part of this Creation and the individual is a limb of Society. So there is this Cosmic Hierarchy: God, Nature, Society and the individual, which should never be lost sight of.

The individual must conduct himself/herself in such a manner that is not harmful to Society, does not disturb Nature and is in harmony with God; that is to say, one must always act in full consonance with one’s intrinsic Divine nature. If a person does this, the person would not be in the business of selling fast food and soft drinks, however profitable they might be; why? Because fast foods and soft drinks harm people and thus Society. When a high percentage of the population becomes obese, when a large number of children develop diabetes at a young age, etc., Society ends up paying a very high price. The companies may make profit but if Society as a whole loses, is that good?

In today’s Society, it is dangerous to delink money-making from its consequences to Society. Economic theories can no longer afford to start from notions of unfettered freedom for the market. One must instead move away from the hitherto sacred principle that the individual has the right to make money to the principle that the individual has responsibilities to discharge to both Society and to Nature. In other words, economic philosophy must start from basic moral and human values and duties that arise thereof rather than rights that the individual might think he or she is entitled to. If we start with value-based economics, then we would have value-based trade and commerce, which in turn would ensure fair distribution of wealth, minimisation of exploitation, well-being for all in some reasonable measure. The present system is based on competition. On the face of it, competition might look like a good thing but soon it gets contaminated by all the evil tendencies lurking within humans, at which point it leads to painful consequences.

History has shown that Society moves forward through harmonious co-operation, which is why the Vedas extol co-operation. And that also is why Swami talks to us often about Unity, Purity and Divinity. Humanity must shine with humanness and NOT with meanness. That will happen only when we stop dreaming all the time about profits, and turn instead to using money for common good. We can never prosper in isolation. The dynamics of Society are such that money gotten by unfair and evil means would always produce its own unpleasant reflection via the problems in Society.

There is much that we can say on this subject, but we shall not. Instead, we bring to you a small extract from a Divine Discourse that Swami gave in Bombay on 12 th March, 1999 at a reception given to Him in the Cooperage ground by the elite of Bombay (now Mumbai).. Many who spoke before Bhagavan expressed grave concern about the rising crime in Bombay . Responding to those fears, this is what Sathya Sai Baba said:

Is Bombay in a healthy state today? No! Hundreds of thousands of people are living in slums. Tens of thousand children receive no schooling at all. They roam the streets and take to evil paths. Any number of people are sick and they are left to their fate. In this same city, there are many rich and well-to-do people also. They also are a part of the same Society. They have become rich on account of this very Society; all their wealth has come from the people. But what is it that they are doing with their money? Are they using even a fraction of it for the general good of the public? Are they doing any service? Are they helping the poor in any way? Are they bothered? Are they concerned at all? Do they at least think of them and their misery? Do they feel compassion for them?

What this quote reveals is that money is the starting point of many of the problems of Bombay that Swami alluded to. What applies to Bombay applies to many other parts of the world as well. Values and NOT money should be the starting point of economic philosophy. When one starts with values, one knows how to deal with money properly; money would then not be an end in itself, but the means to alleviate the suffering of the poor and the dispossessed. However, if values are abandoned right at start, then there can be only disaster. We might in passing also draw attention to yet another of the recent Sai Inspires Message that says, “It is only when you experience other’s suffering as your own, that human value is manifested.”

We took up this topic of extreme economic asymmetry just to stress that Swami’s teachings are extra-ordinarily profound and touch all aspects of life. They are of immense value to humanity, especially in the present critical juncture. Will humanity realise that? Will the world wake up? We leave you to speculate about those issues!

Jai Sai Ram .

With Love and Regards,
“Heart2Heart” Team

Insights About Happiness

Insights About Happiness By Swami Sivananda & Sathya Sai Baba

“At the doors of large granaries are placed traps containing fried rice (Moori) to catch mice. The mice, attracted by the flavour of the fried rice, forgets the more solid pleasure of tasting the rice inside the granary, and fall into the trap. They are caught therein and killed. Just so is the case with the soul. It stands on the threshold of Divine bliss, which is like millions of the highest worldly pleasures solidified into one; but instead of striving for that bliss, it allows itself to be enticed by the petty pleasures of the world and falls into the trap of Maya, the great illusion, and dies therein”. – Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

INTRODUCTION
Man wants happiness. He shuns pain. He moves heaven and earth to get the happiness he wants from sensual objects, and lo, gets himself entangled in the extricable meshes of Maya. Poor man! He does not know that these objects are perishable and evanescent, finite and conditioned in time, space, and causation. And what is more, he fails to get the desired happiness from them.

Sensual pleasure is tantalizing. There is enchantment so long as man does not possess the objects. The moment he is in possession of the object, the charm vanishes. He finds that he is in entanglement.

The bachelor thinks of his marriage, day and night. He thinks he is in imprisonment after the marriage is over. He is not able to satisfy the extravagant wants of his wife. He wants to run away from the house to forests. The rich but childless man thinks he will be more happy by getting a son, goes on pilgrimage to Ramesvaram and Kasi, and performs various religious ceremonies. But when he gets a child, he feels miserable; the child suffers from epileptic fits and his money is given away to doctors. Even then, there is no cure. This is Mayaic jugglery. The whole world is fraught with temptation.

A SPECTACLE OF SORROW
A worldly man is always drowned in sorrow. He is ever struggling to get something, some money, some power, some position, and so on. He is always anxious as to whether or not he would get it. Even when he is in actual possession of the thing he so passionately longed for, he is very anxious lest he should lose it.

A rich man has great wealth, but he has no children. And so he is pained at heart. A poor man has fourteen children, but he has nothing to eat, and so he is miserable. One man has wealth and children, but his son is a vagabond, and so he is worried. One man has riches and good sons, but his wife is very quarrelsome. No one is happy in this world.

The session judge is very discontented. He thirsts to become a high court judge. The minister is also discontented. He longs to become the premier. A millionaire is discontented; he yearns to become a Croropati (Billionaire). The husband is discontented; his wife is black and thin; he wants to marry another wife with good complexion. The wife is discontented; she want to divorce and marry a rich, young husband. A lean man is discontented; he wants to put on fat and gulps cod-liver oil. A fat man takes antifat pills. No man is contented in this world.

A doctor thinks that the advocate is very happy. The advocate thinks that the businessman is more happy. The businessman thinks that the judge is more happy. The judge thinks that the professor is more happy. No one is happy in this world.

An emperor is not happy. A dictator is not happy. A president of a state is not happy. God Indra is not happy.

Who is happy then ? A sage is happy. A Yogi is happy. He who has controlled his mind is happy.

Happiness comes from peace of mind. Peace of mind comes from a state of mind wherein there are no desires, no Moha, no Vishaya, no thoughts of objects. You should forget all ideas of pleasure before you enter the domain of peace.

PLEASURE IS MIXED WITH PAIN
You cannot have pleasure without pain. Wherever there is pleasure, there is pain. You vainly seek pleasure in gold, in women (or men in the case of women), in this mundane existence. You cannot have absolute happiness in a relative physical plane of pairs of opposites. The pairs of opposites rotate in their turn. Death follows life. Night follows day. Light follows darkness. Pain follows pleasure.

One part of pleasure is mixed with fifteen parts of pain. Pleasure that is mixed with pain, fear and worry is no pleasure at all. If you carefully begin to analyze this one part of pleasure also, it will dwindle into an airy nothing. You will find that it is mere play of the mind.

Pleasure and pain are relative terms only. They are not two entities. They are obverse and reverse sides of the same coin. The difference is not in kind, but in degree only.

Pleasure and pain are two names for one thing. They are two aspects of one thing. For a worldly man without philosophical knowledge, they appear as two different entities.

PLEASURE AND PAIN LIE IN THE MIND
What is pleasure for you is pain for another. What is pleasure for you now is pain after some time. The first two cups of milk gives you pleasure. The third cup induces disgust, nausea and retching. Milk does not give pleasure during fever. Therefore, pleasure is not in the objects, but in the imagination or inclination of the mind.

Pleasure and pain, beauty and ugliness, are all false imaginations of the mind. Mind is a false, illusory product. Conceptions of the mind also must, therefore, be false.

Pleasure and pain are in the mind only. It is subjective. Things, when longed for, are pleasant; but are bitter if not longed for. Desires are the cause for pleasures.

You can convert pleasure into pain and pain into pleasure by thinking, by Bhavana, by imagination. Many vegetarian students who have gone to England to prosecute their studies have become inveterate meat-eaters. Meat was very repulsive to them when they were in India. Mere sight used to induce vomiting. How is it they are able to relish meat with avidity, cupidity and stupidity now ? By simple change in thinking.

Ignorant persons attribute their pleasure to external objects. That is a serious blunder, indeed. Really, there is no pleasure in objects. There is neither pleasure nor pain in objects. It is all mental creation, mental perception, mental jugglery. It is only the mental attitude or a certain kind of mental behaviour towards objects that bring joy or grief, pleasure or pain. Maya has her powerful seat in the imagination of the mind.

When you are in acute agony, a cup of coffee, milk or tea does not give you any pleasure. When you are in acute agony, the whole world which appeared to you to be full of bliss while in good health, appears quite dreary. The world loses all its charms while you are seriously ailing. A real thing must give pleasure for everybody at all times. Is it not ?

PLEASURE IS THE CAUSE OF PAIN
The cause of pain is pleasure. The man who is addicted to taking tea, and is in the habit of taking fruits and milk after meals, feels very miserable when he cannot get tea, or fruits and milk, in a certain place. When the wife dies, the husband is drowned in sorrow, not because of the loss of his loving partner in life, but because he cannot get sexual pleasure now.

The cause of pain is pleasure. The cause of death is love for sensual life. Give up all sensual pleasures, if you do not want pain. Give up sensual life, if you do not want death.

Enjoyment cannot bring satisfaction of desire. On the contrary, it aggravates and intensifies desires and makes the mind more restless through sense-hankering or Trishna, just as the pouring of ghee or oil aggravates fire. The fewer the wants, the greater the happiness.

Many rich persons, in spite of their immense wealth and possession of two or three wives, are extremely miserable and unhappy. I have come in contact with several rich landlords. They are all discontented, restless, peevish and very miserable. It is evident, therefore, that happiness does not lie either in money, objects or woman (or man).

THE SOURCE OF HAPPINESS
There is no happiness at all in any of the objects of the world. There is not an iota of happiness in objects, because they are insentient. Even the sensual pleasure is a reflection of the Atmic bliss only. It is sheer ignorance to think that we derive any pleasure from the sense-objects or from the mind.

When there is a desire in the mind, the mind is filled with Rajas. It is in an agitated condition. It is restless and unpeaceful. It will be restless till the desired object is attained. When the object is attained and enjoyed, when the desire is gratified, the mind moves towards the Inner Soul. It ceases functioning. It is filled with Sattva. All thoughts subside for a split second; the mind rests in the Soul within. The Soul’s bliss is reflected in the intellect. But the ignorant man thinks that he is getting the happiness from the object; just as the dog which is biting a dry bone imagines that it is getting the pleasure from the bone, that the blood is oozing from the bone, whereas in reality, the blood comes from its own palate.

REAL HAPPINESS IS WITHIN
Real happiness is within you. It is in the Atman. It is subjective. It manifests when the mind is concentrated. When the Indriyas are withdrawn from the objects outside, when the mind is one-pointed, when there is Vasana-kshya and Manonasa, when you become desireless and thoughtless, Atmic bliss begins to dawn, spiritual Ananda begins to thrill.

The musk is in the navel of the deer, but it runs here and there to smell it. The chain is in the neck of the damsel, but she runs hither and thither in search of it. The precious diamond is within you, but you run after the broken glass-pieces in vain. Even so, the ocean of bliss is within you; the fountain of joy is within you; and yet, you run here and there in search of it. The Sun of suns is ever shining in you, but your blind eyes cannot behold it. The eternal sound is ringing within you, but your deaf ears cannot hear it.

Go wherever you may, to Gulmarg or Pahalgam in Kashmir, to Darjeeling in Simla, to Vienna or the Alps. It is all the same. You will not find any real rest. The charming scenery may soothe the retina for a second. Raga, Dvesha, jealousy, passion and greed are everywhere. You will find the same earth, the same sky, the same air, and the same water. And you carry with you the same mind. Imagination and change of place have deceived not a few. O man! Be contented. Live where you may, but discipline the mind and the senses. Meditate on the Inner self, the Antaratman, ceaselessly. Here you will find everlasting peace. Mind will stop deceiving you now.

Raja Bhartrihari, Raja Gopichand, Lord Buddha deserted kingdom and all pleasurable objects, palaces, music, children, wife, etc., to attain Atmic bliss which is everlasting. They attained immortality. They are not fools. Had there been real happiness in objects, they would have stuck to this world. The difficulty is that the worldly men with gross Vyavaharic Buddhi are not able to understand or comprehend a supersensual spiritual bliss that exists beyond the senses, mind and intellect.

SENSUAL PLEASURE AND SPIRITUAL BLISS
Spiritual bliss is the highest bliss. Spiritual bliss is bliss of one’s own Soul. It is transcendental bliss. It is independent of objects. It is continuous, uniform and eternal. It is enjoyed by the sage only.

Sensual pleasure comes out of emotion. But bliss of the Soul is self-delight. It is the innate nature of the Atman. Pleasure is temporal and fleeting. Bliss is eternal and everlasting. Pleasure is mixed with pain. Bliss is unalloyed happiness. Pleasure depends upon nerves, mind and objects. Bliss is independent and self-existent. There is effort in attaining sensual pleasures, but there is no striving in experiencing the bliss of the Soul. The drop joins the ocean. The Jiva floats in the ocean of bliss.

Purify the mind by Japa, Satsanga, charity, control of mind, self-restraint, selfless service, study of the Gita, the Upanishads, Yoga-Vasishtha, Bible, Koran and other religious scriptures, practice of Yama and Niyama, Pranayama, Vairagya and Tyaga. You will then get a proper instrument for meditation, a calm, sharp, subtle, one-pointed mind. Start meditation with the help of this instrument for three hours in the morning and three hours at night. Then a new kind of indescribable Ananda will dawn in you. You will be convinced of a supersensual spiritual bliss. You will have to feel this spiritual Ananda yourself. You will have to eat it yourself. Can you explain the sexual happiness to a boy of twelve? Can you explain the happiness of sugar-candy to a boy who has not tasted the same ? No, you cannot. The boy himself must eat sugar-candy. He must, when he has grown up, taste the carnal pleasure.

Worldly men think they are quite happy because they get a few ginger biscuits, some money, and a woman. O, if they would just taste the nectar of immortality, what should be the intensity of happiness they should feel!

The body is an abode of misery and disease. Wealth brings a lot of trouble in acquiring and keeping safe. Sorrow springs from every connection. Women (or Men) are a perpetual source of vexation. Alas! people prefer this path of misery to that of spiritual enjoyment.

Enough, enough of your tea and coffee, enough of soda and lemonade, enough of father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister and relations. You have had countless fathers and mothers, wives and children in the past. You came alone. You will go alone. None will follow you save your own actions. Realize God. All miseries will come to an end.

Though surrounded by pleasurable or painful objects to disturb your equilibrium of mind, remain immovable as a rock, receiving all things with equanimity. Be always cheerful. Laugh and smile. How can a mind that is gloomy and dull think of God ? Try to be happy always. Happiness is your very nature. This is termed cheerfulness. This spirit of cheerfulness must be cultivated by all aspirants.

Keep the mind in state of moderation or happy, golden mean. Never let it run to excesses. People die of shock from extreme depression as well as extreme joy. Do not allow Uddharsha to crop up in the mind. It is excessive merriment. Mind always runs to extremes, either to extreme depression or extreme joy. Extremes meet. Extremes bring about reaction. Mind can never be calm in excessive joy. Let the mind be cheerful, but calm.

This world is a mere appearance. Mind and the senses are deceiving you every moment. You have mistaken pain for pleasure. There is not even an iota of happiness in this sense-universe. Abandon these selfish struggles and schemes for amassing wealth. March directly to that wire-puller who is moving these toys of fleshy human bodies, who is keeping up this big show. In Him only you will find lasting happiness and perennial joy. Merge in Him by practicing daily meditation and japa.

Reference

Sathya Sai Baba Quotes On Happiness

Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba: “Within you is the real happiness. Within you is the mighty ocean of nectar divine. Seek it within you!”

Sathya Sai Baba: “If you want peace and if you want happiness you must live in love. Only through love will you find inner peace. Only through love will you find true happiness. Love flourishes through giving and forgiving. Develop your love! Immerse yourself in love!”

Sathya Sai Baba: “The happiness of everyone is My happiness. This is the inner meaning ofthe prayer, lokah samasthah sukhino bhavan-thu (May all the people of the world be happy).”

Sathya Sai Baba: “The person who is wedded to Truth and Love would need nothing more for peace and happiness. When Creation is witnessed through these values, it becomes holy scripture, an inspiring lesson and guide.”

Sathya Sai Baba: “I have come not to disturb or destroy any Faith, but to confirm in his own Faith, so that the Christian becomes a better Christian, the Muslim a better Muslim and a Hindu a better Hindu. I have come to reconstruct the ancient highway to God; to instruct all in the essence of Vedas, to shower on all this precious gift; to protect Sanathana Dharma, the Ancient Wisdom and to preserve it. My Mission is to serve happiness and so I am always happy to come among you, not once but twice, thrice as often as you want me. To set right those who have taken to wrong path and to protect the good people, Sai will be born again and again. I have come to light the lamp of Love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added luster. I have not come on any mission or publicity for any sect or creed or cause nor have I come to collect followers for any doctrine. I have no plans to attract disciples or devotees into my fold or any fold. I have come to tell you of the Universal, Unitary Faith, this Path of Love, this Duty of Love, this Obligation to Love. Believe that all hearts motivated by the One and Only God, that all Faiths glorify the One and Only God, that all Names in all languages and all Forms man can conceive, denote the One and Only God. His adoration is best done by means of Love. Cultivate that attitude of Oneness between men of all creeds, all countries, and all continents. This is the message of Love I bring!”

Know The Secret Of Happiness That The Gopis Knew

Know The Secret Of Happiness That The Gopis Knew

Gopis were very unique, as devotees. They had no consciousness of the body at all; they were all the while attached only to the principle that is embodied in It. They were eager to know the `other’, not to experience ‘this’. As a matter of fact, it is the identification with the gross body that lies at the root of all the cruelty, injustice, greed, violence and falsehood that parade all over the world. It is this that breeds desire, that multiplies wants, that makes man ride on the waves of whim and fancy. When he is not able to catch up with his ambition, man becomes a prey to disappointment and grief, hate and avarice.

If you ask God to fulfil your wishes, your worship is degraded into an act of bargaining; your reverence is equated with what you receive; you are selling homage for so much of satisfaction. You become a paid servant, a hired labourer, insisting on wages and calculating how much is got for the work done. Be on the other hand, a member of the family, feel that you are the Lord’s own, do every task as `my work’ `my task’ without any idea of the return therefore; then the work does not tire, it is done well. When this attitude is taken up by you, you feel not clamour for wages at all. The Master will maintain you and your people as He feels you deserve. This secret of happiness the Gopis knew; you must also live out your lives on these lines.

(Sri Sathya Sai Baba – extracted from Divine Discourse on 19th August 1965)

Reference