Life is driven by the need to be happy and satisfied
Our needs are plenty and they clamor to be ratified
Our ego provides enough fuel for us to create illusions
This is based on our mind's proclivity for creation
Foremost amongst these ego based needs is company
We seek out friends and others to make our symphony
Whether in love or merely as friends we seek others
And thus make our happiness conditional on their favors
Our happiness overflows when things go as expected
The favored partners are around and we are delighted
But then this is not always the case as priorities change
Every life has to go through its transformative stage
And when that happens we swing to the other extreme
Our earlier love changes to resentment and we grieve
The World remains the same but we are plunged into misery
Similar actions produce opposite effect causing our fury
We are bewildered by these mood swings and remain baffled
Our mind shows us shifting pictures, thus we are bedazzled
True peace and joy comes from becoming entirely unconditional
Our happiness is our essence, not determined by things external
3 comments:
Hi Uday
I think i am going in the same train with my feelings and reached the state of mind, where I am feeling so calm and quiet. Your thoughts are reflecting my state of mind. This weekend was good, and I was able to attain my original state of mind, after going through some turbulance for the past 10 days. It really doesnt matter what we we have external to us, what matters the most is what we have inside us, and how well we can connect to our inside.
True peace and joy comes from becoming entirely unconditional
I am completely with you and thank you for the thoughts (as always)
-Hema
You are welcome Hema. Balance is always a dynamic equilibrium, which implies that it will be frequently disturbed and has to be brought back to original state once again. A constant awareness is necessary.
This is with reference to your composition entitled “True Happiness”. The concluding lines of your poem made me think of the elucidation, on the subject of true happiness, as made out by Swami Dayananda, in one of his discourses, which I had attended many years ago. The Swamiji had this to say on the subject. We often wrongly believe that our happiness can be derived from and are dependent on, external sources, and we never tire in our efforts, in chasing these external sources in our never ending pursuit of happiness. These external sources, can be comprehensively classified under two categories, namely, OBJECTS and EVENTS. If either of these external sources had the intrinsic quality of creating happiness, then they should do so to all persons, who are exposed to it at all times and to the same person who is exposed to it, at different times. Sadly, we know that such is not the case at all. So we learn that unlike, for instance a lighted fire, which has the intrinsic quality, to burn, irrespective of the identity of the person, who is exposed to it and the number of times such exposures take place, the external sources mentioned above, have no intrinsic capacity to produce happiness. In further elucidation of the above point, the Swami first takes up for consideration, an object as a source of happiness, and points out that, a bottle of whisky (OBJECT), for instance, that can, normally, create great happiness to an alcoholic, can only be a source of aversion and disgust to a confirmed teetotaler. The same object can create aversion, even in the mind of the alcoholic also under different circumstances, as for example, when he has already consumed liquor to the point of nausea.
Then, considering, the case of an event, as a source of happiness, the Swamiji points out that, taking for instance the birth of a child (EVENT), to a couple after a long period of childlessness, we find that while the event produces great joy in the minds of the parents, the same event, probably creates heartburn and anguish in the mind of the newborn’s uncle, who was waiting in the sidelines, all these years, hoping that the family property will pass on to him after the death of the couple, without leaving any progeny. The bottom line therefore is that no external source, whether it is an event or an object can be instrumental in creating sustained happiness in a person, as they do not possess the intrinsic quality to generate joy. As you have rightly mentioned in your verse, we must learn to look inwards for sustained happiness, which is the core of our being. I had to make use of so many words, to explain a fact that, you have summarized in two trite sentences of your poem.
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