Where is happiness? You believe it is out there in the world. As long as a desire is unfulfilled, the mind is agitated and unhappy. When the desire is fulfilled, the agitation ceases, and you are happy. Could happiness be in the mind and not in the object? Are we chasing a mirage all our lives when the oasis is elsewhere?
You seek happiness through four avenues — sense contact, action, relationships, and intellectual pursuits. When you eat the first mango of the season, it is sheer bliss, right? So, you keep eating mangoes, but the more you indulge, the less you enjoy.
We all act. What are you working for? A paycheck or profit? Then you get bored. Find purpose and a higher goal, and you regain the excitement of a child. Emotional thrills are so fulfilling that you do not feel the pain of physical inconveniences, but the days of wine and roses soon become days of whine and neurosis. You think the partner is at fault, but could it be your attitude that needs tweaking?
Intellectual delights give far more happiness than even emotional thrills. Physical and emotional pain pale into insignificance compared to the joy of Noble Prize! But you always want more. “Knowledge is like the horizon. The closer you get to it, the further it recedes.” You are never satisfied.
What if you moved from the world to its Creator? The Spirit? Will you search for happiness end? Dhruva cried to his mother because his stepmother did not allow him to sit on his father’s lap. The mother told him — this is the world. Sometimes, you get what you want; at other times, you do not. Dhruva said he only wanted only happiness. The mother said you will only get unending happiness when you get to God. How do you get permanent happiness that is independent of the world?
The formula for happiness:-
Happiness = No. of desires fulfilled/No. of desires harbored
Using this formular, you can enhance your happiness by either increasing the number of of desires fulfilled, the numerator, or reducing the number of desires you harbor, the denominator.
As you fulfil your desires, you acquire more desires. So, focus on the desires you harbor. As the desires reduce, your happiness increases in leaps and bounds. When your desires reduce to zero, you will attain infinite happiness, Thereafter, anything added or taken away makes no difference. Infinite plus or minus a million is infinite and infinite minus infinite is also infinite. Nothing in the world impacts your happiness.
You cannot give up desire; you can only pursue a higher desire. As a child, you were obsessed with toys, and as you grew older, your desire for toys vanished. Apply the same principle. Ultimately, the desire for enlightenment is so intense that all other desires fade.
Desire comes when there is a void. Thoughts arise in your mind as you want to acquire things to fill that emptiness. Gain knowledge of your fulness, and all seeking will end. You will revel in infinite bliss.
