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Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian and spiritual master. He has founded The Art of Living, present in 180 countries, known to empower individuals through its unique breathing techniques and tools for mind management. LESS ... MORE
You can experience happiness at three levels. One is the happiness in society, in the environment. How can you bring about happy situations? How would you feel in a place where everybody around you thinks only about himself or herself ? Would you like to be in such a group where there is no sharing, no sense of belongingness, and no happiness?
The second level is the happiness of one’s mind. When one accepts things and moves in knowledge then the happiness dawns in the mind. Sometimes everybody around you is happy and you are serving others also but you are not happy in your mind; there is no fulfilment. Dedication brings the second level of happiness.
The third level is the happiness of the soul. This level of happiness happens when the soul is united with the Divine. When there is no duality, no two, when you are in deep meditation, then you experience this innermost joy.
All the three levels of happiness are interlinked. When you are totally united with the Divine, you cannot but be fulfilled and you cannot but serve because everybody is part of you. When you start serving and stop thinking about yourself all the time, mental satisfaction will come. The mind will also feel happy and relaxed and it creates such an environment.
A wise one is happy even in bad times. And the foolish one is unhappy even in good times. You know, just like a farmer sows seeds into the soil and nurtures them to grow into healthy plants, we must sow seeds of happiness and success in our lives. Where do these seeds grow? Just as food comes from the earth, joy and bliss grow from the space above us—heaven. Space is the field where happiness takes root.
If you observe, in different religions, prayer often involves the act of offering thoughts into space. When Muslims pray, they raise their hands, placing their wishes into the space above. Christians do the same—lifting their hands in prayer. This is the space element at work. Good thoughts are sown there, and they yield positive results. Our happiness grows from this space.
Every night before you go to sleep, observe the last thought in your mind. Usually, it is about failures, negativity, or worries—this is what we unconsciously sow before sleeping. And then, in the morning, you wake up feeling tired, exhausted, frustrated, or negative.
There is an old saying in English: Say your prayer before going to bed. Schools teach this, and families encourage it at home. But what does prayer really mean? It means gratefulness. It means consciously planting positive thoughts as seeds before sleeping. And when you do this, you wake up feeling refreshed, energized, and ready for the day ahead.
The secret to a fulfilling and successful life is simple: Keep sowing positive seeds in the space. If you just throw a seed onto a desert or sandy soil where there is no water, it’s not going to grow. You need to water it, plough the soil, and then plant the seed for it to take root and flourish. Similarly, meditation and breathing techniques are like ploughing the subtle space of the mind.
Spirituality is nothing out of the world. There is no division between what is spiritual, and what is material. Attaining a spiritual level is simply recognising that there is life everywhere, that there is spirit everywhere. When you go beyond happiness, what happens? The mind expands, at the same time it is not unconscious or unaware. Usually when you are happy, you become spaced out and you lose focus. When you are unhappy you are very focused. But a beautiful combination — of being happy and alert and focused at the same time — can be experienced in spiritual life.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.
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