What do you want in life?

Address for Happiness

What do you want in life?

Invariably what we all seek in our lives is happiness. Not the happiness based on external experiences, which is short lived and subject to change but a much deeper happiness of contentment, peace, joy, unconditional love and insight. This is a natural desire.

Happiness is our natural state of being and we recognise that being unhappy does not feel right. If happiness is a natural desire why do we not experience it, why are we searching for happiness? Why do we experience such unhappiness?

We do not need to be told one of the things you must do in this life time is to be happy, it is a natural state of being. Yet it alludes so many of us.

We are like the musk deer, always searching for the elusive fragrance, running ourselves to exhaustion searching whilst all the while it is carried within us, we simply do not recognise it.

So not realising that happiness is within oneself we search for it outside.

_______________________

Two brothers were devotees of Lord Shiva and travelled to the forest daily to meditate. Many years passed and then one day Lord Shiva appeared, he said ‘you have both been good devotees tell me what you desire and I will fulfil your wish’.

The first brother said I wish to have a kingdom and he followed with a long list of demands for this kingdom.

It is done said Lord Shiva; he then turned to the second brother and asked what is it you desire?

The second brother thought for a while.  

Then he spoke, it seems to me that there are some flaws with requesting a kingdom, for what if the land is barren and no crops can grow?

What if the neighbours are hostile and there is war?

Or what if my wife was unable to bear children?

The second brother continued, I was wondering why my brother was asking for all these things and then I realised that what he actually wants is happiness. Therefore what I wish for Lord Shiva is ‘happiness’.

Lord Shiva replied I couldn’t give you that.

Why not the brother exclaimed!

I can only give you what you do not already have.

If you asked me for a head I could not give you one because you already have one, as it is with happiness you already have the happiness within you.

I cannot give you what you already have.

It generally takes us quite a few years, decades actually and usually not until we have exhausted every option for finding happiness in the external world before we realise that these things do not bring us happiness.

Let us take a moment here to define happiness vs. comfortable.

To have wealth makes us comfortable not necessarily happy. 

However it is better to have wealth and be comfortably uncomfortable than poor and be uncomfortably uncomfortable.

Now, close your eyes and silent your mind, enter the stillness within. Can you feel the beauty, the peace? Existing in this absolute silence and space. The tools of Self Knowledge allow us to remove our false attachments to reveal this reality.

Namaste

_______________________

Close your eyes and come to the breath