If you have these Three, you are very fortunate

After 8.4 million bodies, you get a human body. 

Just imagine, from bacteria, birds, animals, etc., 8.4 million lives later a human life comes. In this human life, few get to know the real spiritual path. And among those, very few walk on the path and they are the lucky ones.

Adi Shankara has also said, that the human birth is very difficult to get. 

After having gotten human birth, the desire of wanting to walk on the spiritual path, is also very difficult to get. Few people get this. And even after getting this desire to walk on the spiritual path, only few get the opportunity to do it; they get the right path.

So many people, who want to walk on the spiritual path get caught up in all these wrong notions that one day the world is going to collapse, or doom’s day is going to come. And so these people pray out of fear. They get into paths where they are indented with fear and guilt. Fear and guilt are two things that will never allow you to go deep into yourself. And this is what some of the so called (religious) paths do.

Some of the religious paths create this fear of hell and heaven that puts people into such a turmoil of guilt and fear that the mind can never calm down. Meditation can never happen. This is very unfortunate. So even though these people are aspirants, they are not getting the path. 

These people don’t get access to the knowledge: ‘Come on, the mind is like a river, what are you holding on to? Don’t hold on to it. All the events are gone, drop it and move on. Live in the present moment‘. 

This knowledge is not available to many people (who aspire to walk the spiritual path). They go on repenting about the past, feeling guilty, and the mind becomes a mess.

Of course they do pray. Their prayers do help, and they get some blessings. Blessings come to everyone, no doubt, but the knowledge, the right path and liberation remains a distant dream for them. Peace does not happen in their life. They sit with the hope that one day they will go to heaven. And so these souls get trapped with desires and fear. 

They get a human life to be free from all this. So they will have to come back again to work out all these things. Again they will get into meditation.

So, a human birth, desire for a path, and the path being available to them (Maha Purusha Sannidho: getting a Spiritual Master), these three things are rare and difficult to get. If you have all three, you are lucky.

Excerpts from Keynote Address at the World Happiness Summit

Do you want to listen to a story? When Buddha got enlightened, he became silent and angels asked him to talk.

He said “People who are happy they don’t need to listen to anything. They are happy. They are happy with everything around, they don’t need to listen to anything. And people who are unhappy they don’t listen to anything.  If you try to put some sense into people who are unhappy, they are not there. They are so embroiled in their own misery. They have closed their ears. Those who are miserable don’t listen to me anyway and those who are happy don’t need me.” So the angels requested him that there are some people who are on the border line. That’s when Buddha started talking.

Those who are happy you can feel the vibrations. You don’t need words to express yourselves. They are so sensitive. They can catch you. Kids exuberate happiness. They radiate joy. If you ask me, I will tell you that there are those who are happy and they want to share happiness. Nature of happiness is to share. Nobody can say I am so happy leave me alone. When you are happy you want to share happiness. It’s simple, if you see a nice movie you pick up the phone and call your friend. Nature of happiness is to share. Those who are happy,  they share. This is the first category. There is another category of people who are seeking happiness. So they seek in changing jobs, places, cars, gadgets,  trying to find happiness. There is a third category who have no hopes of happiness. For them happiness does not even exist. And if they see someone happy, they feel more irritated. Have you seen such people around? If one of them is happier the other is irritated.

Happiness is not something which has left anyone untouched. We all know what happiness is. So there’s no need to define happiness. It’s really a blunder to define the basics of life. Because you can’t define it in words. You can’t water it down in definitions. They are much vaster, much bigger, much greater.

You know feelings can never be captured in words. Haven’t you felt that there’s so much you want to express but the words are not sufficient enough? It’s the same with happiness. Happiness cannot be conveyed in words or in gestures.  Our being is much much much larger than our expressions.

Happiness is something that everyone has experienced. But it is very fragile. Now you are happy. Just one nasty phone call,  are you still able to keep your happiness? One nasty phone call and your happiness is gone. Your happiness is fragile.

What is that that can make our happiness stronger? I call that Wisdom. Wisdom brings a different context to our life. It expands our context. Anyone who is not happy, you make them see life from a different context and you can bring a smile back to their face. As the context of life expands the problems and issues appear smaller and insignificant. So to make your feeling of togetherness, feeling of worthiness become stronger the first thing is expand the context of life. If someone doesn’t get this take them to the planetarium. When they see the light and how insignificant the little earth is in the context of bigger universe, the multiverse, something happens.

Second is commitment.  If you are committed to doing something, you don’t care. Whatever obstacles that come on the way, you don’t care.  Unpleasant remarks may come from people, but nothing detracts you. That is commitment. So strengthening commitment is the second thing.

The third thing is compassion.  We are more disturbed by others behaviour towards us. That is why we feel our happiness depends on many other factors.

Someone who is stressed – is unhappy, spreads unhappiness. Why do you have to succumb to it?  Instead of getting succumbed to someone else spreading unhappiness say to yourself “I can be in control of myself. I can spread happiness. I can be the source of happiness when I have compassion for others.”

What do you say?

Does it make sense?

Let me review.

First is expand your context, broaden your vision and then have purpose in life. Focusing your energy on something which you find useful, find your purpose. To me the most meaningful thing is bringing happiness in the lives of people, Instead of running after happiness.. You know it runs further away from you. If you stay put, happiness chases you.

Most of the people who are running after happiness, I would say, stay where you are. Just be. You will find that happiness surrounds you. It must comes to you. If you follow joy,  misery follows you. If you follow wisdom, joy follows you.

Second is commitment. Commitment to the greater goals in life. Then you will be really happy.

And the third is compassion. It’s compassion which keeps us in a state of unconditional love, unconditional happiness.

Everyone is seeking happiness – a happiness which doesn’t turn into misery, a love which doesn’t turn into hatred. The perfect action that doesn’t turn into anger and frustration. And that which brings the stability within us, which makes our happiness strong, that I call wisdom. Wisdom for life. No wisdom. No happiness.