How to be happy perpetually?

Who does not want to be happy?  Show me one person, who will say that he is not bothered about the happiness?  You are able to identify a poor fellow, who does not have any shelter, clothes and no provision of two times food, he too has a tremendous hunch or desire to become happy. Contrarily, there are people, who are poor, stay in a one room house, somehow manage to earn a few thousands and discharge their worldly responsibilities and feel happy whatever minimum they have. They don’t grumble, don’t mutter about their poor conditions and they mostly laugh to endure all constraints. Psychologically, all of us want more and more and always want to be happy. We always search for various avenues that will make us happy.  Most people spend most of the time on mental masturbation how to be happy perpetually. Despite their longings, they are always drenched in one or the other kind of sufferings.  If somehow they receive the blessings of happiness by God grace, it is neither unadulterated nor make them feel the  satisfaction of happiness on a continuous basis. No one has any inclination to seek sufferings, it comes  as an inevitable outcome of very many circumstances in which neither you have any control nor you can impose any restriction.

 

Most of us seek happiness through the fulfillment of various wishes, but such inclination is not always guaranteed.  When you chase your desires to become happy, you may not get it all the time, as if the bright sun is eclipsed by dark clouds in between many times.  During this intermittent stage, you feel anxious, perturbed and sad, depriving you from happiness.  All the sufferings are the derivatives of your non-fulfillment.  When you have multifarious desires, you seek the pleasure of the world with abundance.  This enthusiasm to receive happiness only brings sufferings. Human beings are subject to change in conditions.  The impulsive behavior arises when you do not have any control on your mood.  At some point, you feel happy and at some other times, you feel gloomy and become sadist and downhearted.  These mood swings favorably, if desires are fructified and if not, then it brings sufferings. When you are satisfied, it gives a momentary happiness, but it is not a long lasting.  Immediately after that, you may be engulfed with anxieties. Your mood can swing your behavior. If you want to be happy all the time, you must learn the techniques to ascertain nihilism in everything. If you don’t have any longing to receive any extraordinary materialistic comforts, say you are not crazy to stay in a palatial house, you have no greed for costly wardrobe, gadgets or you don’t have desire for gold and silver jewelry and also you don’t have any greed to dine in swanky eateries, then you are not bothered about your sensual comforts.  So, why you will be afflicted with painstaking situations? When there is no painful situation, there is no suffering.  And in the absence of suffering, you are always happy. In reality, of course, it does not happen.  Desire is a wicked friend of yours.  It leads you to illusion.  Under this illusory influence, you get addicted for greed inviting pains. On the contrary, desirelessness makes you like a rock.  You are then neither moved by pleasure nor by sorrow. You are not upset by the onslaught of the opposites.  If you become steadfast and continue to sail your boat in the stream of no avarice, you will be able to get true happiness. But the state of complete desirelessness is not that easy to achieve.   

 

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On the basis of the strength of your character, if you can say no to all the materialistic comforts, costly gadgets, expensive clothing, posh houses and wealthy living, you will tap the unfailing inner source of eternal and never ending blissful status. Believe it or not, the above phenomenon is not based on the glamorous objects of the world, but is completely based on your distinct spiritual knowledge and self-realization.  But when your desirelessness becomes only a mere showmanship, you will not be able to accrue the benefit of perpetual happiness. The reason is that you show no desire, but in reality, you crave to obtain the comforts and want to be happy.  So, this is a dual game played by you, which may make you happy for the time being, but not for long. True happiness starts when you learn the art of right adjustment to other persons and their needs. This right adjustment depends on your tenacity to forget your own identity. This value system of yours increases when you show genuine love for others.  When you reach this stage in your life, you learn the importance and influence of spirituality and convert a life of limited self into a life of love.  When you show a life of love, you reach the stage of God-materialization, which provides you unlimited mental happiness and bliss. The happiness of God-realization must be the goal of all creations. You cannot visualize and understand the feeling of this stage unless you experience Godhood. Through this route, when happiness arrives in your life, it is worth to face all types of physical and mental sufferings possible in this world.  In the midst of sufferings, under the experience of Godhood, you will feel, as if there is no suffering at all. It may not be possible for all to be God-realized, but still, you can achieve power to control your mind through yoga practice. Slowly you will reach a stage, where you will be able to allow your all pains to pain you without making you unhappy. And that is the beauty of this God-materialization. When one becomes God-realized and attain the stage of Godhood, everything will become insignificant to him.  The happiness on the stage of God-realized is self-sustained, ethical, pure, fresh, boundless and indescribable. You will be perpetually happy, if you show your non-attachment to all the possible attachments and desire to attain God-realized state in your life.

 

Understand our election with God's election

During the time of election, most of us engage ourselves to elect members, both for state assembly and parliament. These elections are conducted as per the terms of the respective houses, namely Parliament and State assembly. The different  parties, jump into the fray to retain their seats and acquire more seats with an inclination to form the next government either at central or at respective states. These elections are the statutory norms prevailing in our country. The common public expresses their interest and take part in these elections to vote for their chosen candidates. People gather to listen to their leaders and appeal them to extend the benefits of various social welfare schemes and suggest them to  incorporate best possible strategies in their election manifestos so that the selected candidates are in a position to win. The party members and the functionaries  campaign for their candidates and ensure their victory. In short, it is just not an equation of politics only and it is pandering to the electorate. With the advent of religious and the  fanaticism involved therein, and the influence of religious preachers, monks and saints and when the same are coupled with contemplative prayers and other rituals, elections assume shade of spirituality also. The poor fraternity  can be considered as an epitome of God’s preferential choice. Our this election can be metaphorically compared to the election of God also. On God’s election, you have to only serve the privileged sections of the society and seek His blessings. God’s election in a didactic metaphor and as per the Biblical explanation, through this type of election, God is choosing His coworkers. For the purpose of election, God choices and commissions the youngest, weakest, intelligent and accommodate the people, who have a strong background with a noteworthy deeds. Biblical heroes Jacob, Joseph and King David are the youngest and religious minded persons of their families.  Without bothering of the seniority and hierarchical orders in the family, Joseph is elected as the governor of Egypt. The shepherd David is chosen as the king bypassing the real and legitimate choice of the handsome and beautiful sons of Jesse. God entrusts the responsibility of choosing a king to Samuel, saying “Do not look at the appearance or height or stature, for God does not see as men do; they look at the outward appearance, but God looks within the heart.”  We all know how we elect our representatives or rather force to vote for someone special. If we do not compose the music to those powerful people’s tunes, the fatal consequences will be thrust upon us; we all are aware of this fact. But in God’s election, the same is completely different.  In this regard, the story of most powerful Goliath and little David is to be refreshed once again. Leaving all the arms and weapons, which were given to David by King Saul, David says, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.”  When common people like you and me are bestowed upon with God’s blessings, why they will fear Goliath and this is the inherent meaning of this preaching.  So, David, like  common people challenges Goliath, “You come with sword and spear; but I come in God’s name,” and smashed him with a sling and a stone.  Like the heroes of the Bible, there are many women characters also indicated therein.  They are Ruth, Esther, Judith, and Mary.  Our women at earth are the archetype of these Biblical heroines. They mingle with God mentally to perform various religious missions.  When Ruth becomes widowed, she did not leave her mother-in-law Judith. In the same way, when Esther was elected queen out of the Hoi Polloi, she got King Ahasuerus to save her people. Mary showed her wholehearted devotion to God throughout her life observing the various ups and downs, including the pathetic crucifixion of his son Jesus.

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God’s election was not only limited to the “little ones” individually.  But almost all the groups, namely widows, orphans and aliens were getting special favor from God.  Since these sections were without a spouse,  parentless and friendless respectively, God used to show His special mercy to them.  Divine blessings erupt automatically because they were less privileged and were experiencing lack in their lives. God used to substitute their “lack” with His love and affection. God used to protect them, guide them, so that divesting lacking; they can emerge and become victorious. Jesus teaches us that our salvation depends on our mental frame, attitudinal behavior and response to God’s children, the poor fraternity. The Hindu religion preachers like Swami Vivekananda always advocated for the importance of serving poor people. This extending service with a pure and loving heart to the poor is tantamount to consider as  noble deeds and services to God and in this way, you can take part in his election. The famous poet Tagore has written about this service to the poor and the preferential presence of God, “Here is your footstool and there rest your feet where live the poorest, the lowliest, and the lost.”  Logically, we take part in the postmortems once the election results are declared and we think, introspect what went wrong so that we get to defeat. We are also elated to win and analyze the reasons for our winning sequence.  But for all of us, this could be the time to reflect upon the veracity of truth behind this win or defeat.  We must find out the magic of the broom. We, common people always pass through lacking, but have a longing for more and with this burden of lack, we continue to survive days after days, months after months and years after years. When we mentally take part in God’s election  means we are reaching out the poor and deprived sections of the society, we get His blessings and mental satisfaction.  In earlier days, our country was dominated by one party and family. They invariably used to win the election. The sequence has now changed. Now the election system is on the basis of  multi-party systems. People are spontaneously taking part in the election and express their opinions, as deemed fit to be.  But in the election of God, you can only elect the poor, but weak and the fittest one as God prefers to stay with them all the time. If you follow this principle in your life, you can choose God and seek his blessings for ever.

How to overcome negative emotions

Emotions are two way traffic.  It propels you to prosper, means you can grow fast in your life, if you utilize emotions in the right way.  Emotions also dispel your desire to grow, if you are afflicted with the bad influences and negative habits. So, it is our greatest strength and at the same time, it is to be considered as the weakest link also. This emotion is classified in two types, one is positive and the other one is negative.  Positive emotions remind us the state of love, congeniality, conviviality and happiness, whereas negative emotions are associated with hatred, jealousy, envy, selfishness, outburst, avarice, quarrel and violence.  It is advisable to increase the positive emotions and downplay the effects of negative emotions to make the life more plausible. Negative emotions are the main causes to diminish and deteriorate the physical and psychological personalities of a person.  A person who is sloughed with this emotion on a regular basis, not only he will damage his education, career, growth and family, but also he will lose his peace and harmony to think in an effective manner. Persons who are habitually attached to negative emotions will be selfish, busy without any business and mostly, unsocial. These emotions are the root cause to increase the stress level. If you are always stressed, the reason is that you are not loaded with your office work or you are not disturbed because of any unpleasant events at home or you are not that hurt by any sarcastic comments of your peers or colleagues; it is basically because you are not able to move from the shackles of negative emotions, which always cloud you. Because of negative pattern of thinking, these people are not able to transcend the barriers of negative emotions.  They do not find any positivity in their lives.  Negative people are by nature, always suspicious minded. If someone achieves any feat in his life, they see the same either as his luck or think that because of some favor from some source, he might have achieved the feat. They mostly wish to criticize and do not want to praise anyone for their kudos. They seldom use any type of appreciation for anyone for their good job done. They only exaggerate the dark side of the life and in this process lose their creativity.

Emotion has a direct bearing on your mood, temperament, personality and attitudinal behavior. Your emotional outburst changes your mood and this change may make you less energetic to carry out your duties effectively.  Emotion is a cognitive behavior and one of the important aspects of life.  Positive emotions are the benchmark of anybody’s success, whereas negative emotions lead you to miserable situations and make you sad.  When you are drenched with negative emotions, you will recognize everything in a negative manner and you will identify yourself as useless.  Ultimately, you will be feeling very less confident to perform any activities.  Gradually, you will lose all enthusiasm and you fail to express your views with clarity.  In the long run, you will lose your mental balance.  If you study the tenets of the Gita, you will find that this religious book teaches us to control our emotions and remain calm in almost all the situations of life. Though, it may not be possible always, but these teachings are the yardstick of a stress free life. One has to understand that emotion, whether positive or negative, are a byproduct of external stimulus.  Our soul is completely independent of the mind. 

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We are provoked with all the symptoms of perception and emotions evolved out of our mind.  For emotional balance, you should not react suddenly to anything.  Based on the influence of emotions, people don’t think properly. So, at that point of time, you take ample time to think, try to find out the facts, assess the situation and then, come to the conclusion for initiating any action. Otherwise, taking any action impulsively will increase your pain.  In emotional stage, never be judgmental.  Though positive emotion is good for personal and professional reason, but taking decisions on the basis of discrimination is not that good.

To counter negative emotions, learn to always talk  in positive vibes, which provides you mental strength  Emotional balance is a genetic as well as an acquired syndrome. You can acquire the same either from your group or friends circle. To mingle with negative persons or if you are mostly in the company of the people who always criticize others and their work; you will also tend to be a negative person.  It is better to avail the company of positive configured persons.  Emotional balance is not a creative output, but if you practice, you can adopt the technique.  This happens when we allow things to happen in its own form and not showing any reaction irrespective of its end result – good or bad.  Emotional balance is very much essential for our healthy life.

We expect freedom when we are under the influence of positive emotions.  Contrarily, negative emotions block our self-development. Then, we don't allow ourselves for transformation.  During the stage of negative emotions, one should not engage in any type of quarrels or arguments; that will increase the intensity of negative emotions.  Negative emotions create a negative aura and flush the environment with negative vibes.  Hearing religious talks, songs, listening to spiritual talks and engage in the studies of religious books always help you to remain positive. You have to face tough conditions, bad phase, distress and unavoidable circumstances in your life and this is very common, but all these phases are not perpetual.  As the good time is not going to remain for long, the same is apparently true for bad period. You have to be always faithful to God, particularly, when you have to deal with negative emotions. 

God protects us from negative emotions, provided you remember Him very sincerely.  Negative emotions increase our negative perception; negative thinking and more importantly, we become psychologically negative.  Negative emotions make us sadist and snatch our joy and happiness.  People afflicted with negative emotions even doubt God’s blessings and His care for human beings.  Negative emotions are not a permanent aspect of life; it is a seasonal, you must have courage to change those harmful emotions to positive emotions.  That is how you can control negative emotions.

Yoga practice should be a daily rite

We brush our teeth, take a bath, eat food and sleep on a regular basis to maintain a hygienic and healthy living.  In the same way, we must adapt ourselves to the practice of yoga daily to energize the limbs, to tone the muscles and maintain the bodily system and more importantly to calm our mind. If we can do so and take this practice very sincerely, then it can be construed as an intensely practical approach to move forward in the life.  This particular approach must be the epicenter of our lives. It is the humanity, the influence of which is the main criteria of most of the human being’s leading moral lives.  Many religious gurus and saints advocate, yoga as a process of intermixing of the self and its rightful identification. Why we suffer and get anxieties?  The reason is that we are so besotted with various trivial issues that we seldom identify God’s existence and presence and forget His blessings for the blooming of human being’s prosperity. The perpetual sufferings experienced by us are because of our ignorance to search true self and our attachment to  worldly matters excessively.  This practice of yoga helps us to restore link between human being and its source. This practice helps us to mitigate the problems faced by us individually and collectively. 

In the last June, the International Yoga day was celebrated.  In this symposium, most of us  took an oath to continue this practice to restore the values of harmony and peace. The overwhelming response, which was shown on this yoga day prompts us to think its importance and our abiding faith in this practice in our daily lives. In fact, the UN has expressed his burning desire and advised their member countries to accept this practice as a universal science. The enthusiastic response asserted by each and everybody across the globe signifies the mammoth importance of this service. Everybody present there accepts the fact that Yoga must be a daily routine in the curriculum  of  each school. Doing yoga regularly will help to energize your physical, mental and social well beings. As per WHO, all the mandatory systems of health are  vitalized with the effect of yoga.  This century is known as a technological advanced one and the yogic experience combines the existence of the world with the oneness of humanity to gain momentum leading to exchange and interchange of cultural values, scientific knowledge and many aspects of human life among the cultures of the East and West. 

The practice of yoga does the above integration and teaches us its utmost importance.  Yoga should not be construed as a religious cult and it is to be taken like any other exercise and you must enjoy its practice. Some people construe yoga as a religious system, thereby giving it a higher self and consider that this practice not as a regular exercise like other physical exercises This concept is wrong and that is why, we are not able to integrate this practice as a holistic method of ideal living. Evolution of yoga must be a part of the healthy bodily system. Despite its philosophical and psychological importance in our society and lives, yoga cannot be identified with any group or any ‘ism’ in particular. Yoga cannot be attributed to religiosity and a framework for the same, and it is not to be classified as a religion. It transcends all types of religions and so, it is a supreme entity to be considered as a purifier of our body and mind. There is an intimate connection of our body and mind through a correct pattern of breathing and yoga practice corrects and soothes the pattern for disease free life.  Yoga is an activity of the past, the present and it will remain as a sacred part of life in the future. In ancient India, the culture and practice of yoga was prevalent and its paramount importance is felt today also. The only difference is that earlier, it was not that polluted and it was not treated as a business venture, but today, it almost becomes a glaring media of propaganda. That tendency is bad and it may lower down the qualitative aspects of this holy practice.

Yoga is not a rigid science and it has ample scope for expansion.  By practicing yoga, you can ascertain the truth of life, move forward in the right direction to find out self-realization. One can set the particular need of this exercise to suit his personal character traits and temperament. You can follow the principles as per your convenience, irrespective of what has been laid down in the text. The basic framework must be kept intact to accrue the maximum benefits. Yoga creates a miracle to scale up our body, mind and soul. It helps us to see as we are. Yoga is one of the biggest umbrellas for our refinement of soul. Yoga cannot be restricted only to asanas, pranayamas and physical and mental health. There are many types of yogic exercises, out of which, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga are the most prevalent systems of this practice. But most of us who are bit tuned to this science refer Ashtanga Yoga as yoga for the purpose of exercise. The practice of  this yoga enlightens three major aspects of our life.  First, we get ethical purity, second, we are detached from the snare of the impurities of mind mostly inflicted by Yama and third, we receive a feeling of grace, as if the same is emanating from God. We must practice yoga regularly with reverence and that is mandatory. When we carry out asanas, pranayamas and meditation, we strengthen the vital force, that is the energy of our lives and our mind is closely interconnected with this energy, of course, it must be pure. In this way, you can control your mind and get it absorbed in the divine reality. At that stage of life, your power of meditation culminates you in Samadhi, a supra-conscious of your life. Here, consciousness is raised from physical or psychological level to the infinity. If you are really able to take your mind and body to this stage, you feel that practicing yoga is really fruitful.  Till that happens, you have to practice the regular rituals of asanas, pranayamas and meditation, so that at any one point of time, you get the signal of divinity. 

Be a servant,not a master

23^rd Psalm says,“The lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”  If we make God our custodian in a true sense, we will not be in dearth of anything. But God becomes your custodian only, if you accept the concept to serve others. That means, you have to follow the tenet to become a servant and serve others and pray to Lord accordingly. Some people from the very beginning of their existence follow this principle, whereas some others want to be always masters and dictate their terms. They take pride in those roles, ultimately causing conflicts, difference in opinion, ambiguities, clashes and then loss of peace. The inclination of becoming a servant to anybody and for anything may be practically not that feasible, but approaching this route and follow the similar pattern of thinking will be always a gleeful proposition in life. We know all these philosophical concepts of ideal living. But most of us wait for the fag end of the life to accept this philosophy. We live in a competitive and fiercely mud slinging environment, where powerful people want to dominate others. These powerful people by dint of their strength, money, fame, reputation and followers want to mollycoddle others and decide how the others will lead their lives. In short, they like to dominate others as their masters. Though the number of masters or the persons who always want to be masters are predominately more, but universe supports and like the people who serve others gladly without expecting anything in return.  In common terminology, we mean the so called servants as low class, menial workers and less qualified rather illiterate and poor people. Here the meaning of servant is altogether different. These people are the rich in their hearts and minds who unconditionally provide their services to others and their only mission is to serve others selflessly. Of course,their numbers are less. Most of the time, we find people who are very much inclined to serve others, but for that they expect a reward. There are people who like to serve others only for love. If these numbers get increased, then the society will be a haven of paradise. 

We all are devotees of God. We serve God, visit temples, chant hymns, keep fast and make ourselves busy in contemplative prayers. In the broader sense, we are the servants of God and have to bring happiness to others. When you present a gift to a person out of your affection, you are bringing a smile to his face. Further, when you show your sympathy or help  others who are in distress, when you guide some students to help them to pass in their exams and when you extend your nursing help to some ailing person; your all these  services for noble causes, are acts of good gestures. You are broadly a servant, but you are a hero, who deserves respect and love.  Why we call such types of people as servants?  On the contrary, we must extend our best wishes and paying them homage for the excellent work they do. These people carry out their services  without any ulterior motives.  They do what needs to be done in a particular situation. They do not want any kudos or accolades or medals for their selfless services.  They only think to render their services to others, whether the same are required or not from them. This “servant mentality” is one of the unique qualities of mankind. The people, who possess these qualities, are blessed with God’s profound blessings and they are always at peace and in love for others. People who counter this servant mentality because of their inflated ego and excessive pride for their name, fame, wealth and power, fall through many times during their tenure of survival in this world. They suffer miserably, but do not want to accept the fact to become a servant to others needs. 

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As stated,there are people, who have taken this “servant mentality” in their lives and serve people in their respective capacities. Those enlightened souls are, namely Swami Vivekananda and Ramkrishna Paramhans. They used to take pride to embrace upon the servant approach in life. In today’s glamorous and artificial world, there are many God loving people who continually battle against poverty, illiteracy and superstition,but they always feel happy. These noble souls exist, though not plenty are the real reasons for not our mass downfall. Because of these people and their good deeds, God is pleased and not shackling  us with terrible sufferings and pains. Further, God acknowledges the services of these noble souls and make this world a beautiful place, so that we are able to live cogently and peacefully. Some people always feel that they have a mission in life.  Out of these some people, a few discovers this truth at the fag end of their life, and the remaining paltry numbers  realize this fact at an early stage.  From the early stage of their life, they question “Can I serve others?”, “Can I bring little pleasure to some people while sharing my shelter, bread and clothes with them?” and “Can I help the people who are terribly sick?”  These services may not require an investment of considerable  money, it only requires  adequate mental power to serve others. If this approach does not come automatically, it is better to seek Divine grace to become a servant with an attitude to help others.  The concept must be to help the helpless so as to make them lifted upward. The human race has survived because of these people who engage in servicing others. Though they are very less in numbers, but this world does not survive because of the braggers who climbed the stairs of their lives  considering their own comforts and luxuries only. 

In today’s glamorous and malice prone society, we give more importance on achievement, power and positions. But this may not curb the motives of the people who are engaged in selfless services.  So, one should pray to God that let me have an aptitude and attitude to become a servant of someone in need. When these numbers grow means one becomes two, two become three and reach the level of infinity, we all will be servants to God. We all will follow the concept of servant mentality, and there will be no master.  In reality, this situation is remote, but if try and achieve an even smaller percentage of this desire, our this world will be a utopian society.