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Articles

Live a Happy Life

 Om Namshivaya!!

 

Since my young days I have been raising children who have no parents, or who have one parent who cannot manage to bring up their child, or taking care of needy children from poor families. Some children have been in my care nearly all their lives. One such boy, whom I brought up from two days old, regards me as his father. He is now 17 years old. Of course, he is a young chap and he makes mistakes like all kids do. He is a youngster so I do not like to point out too many of his faults.

 

However, recently I talked to him at length because he likes to play loud pop music in his room in the Ashram. So I carefully explained to him that this is not the correct thing to do in the Ashram environment. He replied to me, "You are a spiritual man and that is OK for you but I am not as involved as you in the spiritual life and I like pop music! When I am your age, around 50, I will stop playing that music." How can I criticize him? This is the children's way of thinking. I talked to him about it for a few hours and eventually he understood my point of view. The problem is this - all parents want their children to live a nice and happy life and that is why they always want to correct them and advise them for their futures!

 

In the same way, I want to advise you all to how to have a happy life. Just like that young boy looks to me for guidance and counsel, so too do many devotees of all ages. All are searching for happiness, so why can't they achieve their goal? Who is disturbing your life so that you are not happy? Why? - You are disturbing it yourself! There is no one else who can disturb it.

 

How are you disturbing yourself? You constantly get worried, sad, angry, tense and impatient. Why do you irritate yourself with these feelings? It means that you are expecting something. If what you hope for does not happen, then you get angry, upset or nervous. Why do these feelings arise in your consciousness? Because of attachments. What are attachments? They are your habits, liking, affinities and affections. When you do not experience fulfillment of your attachments regularly in your life you become depressed and downhearted. Your dejection will not cease until you get another "dose" of your attachments. In order to rise above these attachments you have some spiritual work to do.

 

I have been in jail for five years now. Everyone asks me all kinds of questions and they write me many letters about so many different subjects. Whatever they ask me they expect a reply but I never get upset about the various demands of the people. How is that? Because I never disturb myself. I maintain my happiness. Sometimes I want a cup of tea but there is no sugar. Do I get irritated? No, I think, "Ah, today I will forget the tea." It does not bother me at all. I take things easy and never feel upset. Sometimes my lunch may be too spicy or salty and I might find it very difficult to eat. But I think, "So, this food is a little hot for me, but I will drink a glass of water and everything will be fine." Then I feel happy. On occasion there will be no soap to bathe with and so I just bathe in water. That is also fine. I do not expect that everything will be there just because it is normally so. I do not expect even simple things and, therefore, I am always happy. Yet, most of you get angry for the slightest reason! That is why you are disturbing yourself and spoiling your own peace of mind. If you continue your lives like this you will never be happy.

 

The reason for your impatience is because you are still undeveloped spiritually. One way to mature is to realize you. What is the meaning of "realize yourself?" A simple way to do this is to recognize why you experience worry, disease, unnecessary difficulties, tension, irritability, desire, pressure and so on. Why should all this negativity arise within the mind? For each of you there will be an individual reason, or set of reasons or circumstances. In order to understand your own circumstances why negativity is creeping into you, I advise you to sit for five minutes whenever such feelings emerge and think hard about them. Think deeply and truthfully. Ask yourself why you expect things to happen that never happen? A truthful answer, for example, would be that you are selfish. If you were not reasoning in a selfish way, then you would simply never have expectations.

 

Therefore, you can see that if you want to lead a happy life on earth, first you have to understand and realize yourself. Only you can do this by yourself. No one can do this for you because your mentality and your personal life are unique to you. Of course, you are interested very much in high spirituality and you want to see God. However, that is a later and much higher procedure. Before you are in a position to see the Divine you need to learn to live happily on this earth.

 

Another great worry for many people is money. In India many homeless dogs live rough outside. Somehow they manage to eat and live. Who gives money to the dog? He never goes to the shop with money - he does not even have five rupees. Wild animals live freely on this earth. They eat and live naturally. Yet, see the life of a human being. Humans think that they are free and cultured and they can live how they want and eat what they like. In truth, they cannot really understand that they are not free at all. They are always under the control of others. Why? The people are controlled through money.

 

This world was once a free and beautiful place. Humankind created divisions by dividing the earth into countries and then further into kingdoms and governments. It created money also. You trust money. This means that you trust human beings and not God. Who created the earth? Divinity created the earth and therefore the earth belongs to God. Yet humans created governments in order to rule the earth and they took the earth and sold its land to the people for money. In this way they started to control the way of life of the people through materiality and humanity began to lose touch with spirituality.

 

Realize too that money is an illusion! It is necessary indeed in order to live in this modern world, but do not let the money illusion control you! Let go of it, reduce your wants and desires and be free!

 

In truth, how can you live a happy life all your life? The only way is to stop tensions, worries and disturbances. Stop feeling strained if there is a delay in your programme. Have faith that the Divine will take you to where you are going at the correct time and without any accidents or mishaps.

 

Why should you feel tension because you have much work? Realize that all you do in life is work!

You should not be lazy to live and do all your work.

Do not involve the mind with tension in your actions. Bathing, dressing and eating - all is work!

 

Kriya means doing actions with the body. Kriya is a kind of divine action. All work is Kriya. Realize that all in this world is shakti, the sacred energy, and is divine. Even bathing is a divine action. Why? Because all water is shakti. Water is divine. Understand that in the early morning when you pour water on your head to bathe, Mother Shakti, the Divine Goddess is flowing on your head. Even when you walk, you are treading on Mother Earth. To realize these principles is the essence of our Sanatana Dharma, the eternal and essential religion.

 

Therefore, this Navaratri I bless you to understand that all is divine and all work is divine worship.

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