| Secret of Sustainable
Happiness -- Vision-inspired action by Jinendra Swami First of a three-part series We all are seekers. We are all constantly struggling to arrive somewhere. We are constantly caught up in our likes and dislikes. We are constantly caught-up in our cravings or aversion. We are constantly seeking change. We are seeking avoidance of pain and suffering. We are seeking ways to find and retain our pleasure, happiness, peace, tranquility and harmony. We are constantly caught-up in this push and pull in our lives. We try to fill ourselves through acquisition of material objects. We try to find refuge in family, friends, lover, neighbors, relatives, work and social contacts. We look for refuge in name, fame and wealth, only to find and experience that our refuge is temporary. We feel helpless. We seek some form of fulfillment through our lives. We keep searching for ways to come out of this temporary, transitory feeling of happiness and find non-transitory, more sustainable happiness in our lives. Our pursuit for three S's -- Security, Survival and Self-esteem -- continues within our three spheres of existence: family, work and relationship. The solution to our dilemma is in seeing clearly that at the core of all our varied pursuits is our desire to be free from pursuit itself. If only we can SEE that just as happiness or unhappiness is a state of our own mind, so is this feeling of bondage or freedom, helplessness or being in control, are states of our own mind. Only if we clearly look into the anatomy of the cause of this feeling within ourselves, we will discover the remedy. We have an incredible power in our mind to heal others and ourselves. The power of the mind starts with one basic idea: You control your thoughts, and with them, you can take charge of your own life -- to get health, healing, happiness and harmony. New research has allowed us to rediscover the mechanism by which faith, belief, visualization, imagination, self-observation, mindfulness and meditation can actually unlock the mysteries of health and healing. We have to discover and live life of Yoga, a Life of Union with our True Self. What is Yoga? The word "Yoga" as used in the West implies simply learning the various postures or doing some pranayama or meditation, but Yoga, the Sanskrit word, has a lot deeper meaning and context in which it is used. Yoga is a pathway to liberation. Yoga is way of life. ¥ Yoga means ..."to join." So, join your-self to your Higher Self. Or in other words...be in Union with the Divine. ¥ Yoga means..."to let go" of this little "i" and discover the Divine I. ¥ Yoga means...evolution from Mundane Awareness (ordinary) to Divine Awareness (unconditional awareness) ¥ Yoga means..."abide in my True Nature." Nature here does not imply your personality or habits or traits, but it implies the essence. What is fire's essence? It is heat? Can you separate fire from heat? Likewise, our true nature is LOVE. Love is our essence. Just like there is no becoming heat for fire, it is always there...so is our nature, Love. There is no becoming...we are always "THAT." Freedom, Unity, Happiness, Peace, Tranquility, Harmony and Abundance are simply aspects of our True Nature. Abide in your True Nature. Our True Nature is LOVE. This center of LOVE, which exists within each one of us, is our true Nature. When you live and act from this center of LOVE, all manifestations are effortless, because our intelligence is not corrupted. Look at god's creation in Nature. Know that Nature's intelligence works with effortless ease. Look how the fish swims, grass grows, birds fly. The sun shines and the stars glitter. It is their Nature, and so is humankind's nature to manifest, to be in action, to do our karma, to live and act in accordance with God's will. But we must re-learn this process of effortlessness or the Law of Least Effort. Know that when the centering is in ego, we consume a lot of energy and we cannot manifest effortlessly, but when centering is in "LOVE," you have boundless energy to create. Harnessing love How do we harness this energy of LOVE? The first principle to harness this energy of love is "Acceptance." Accept people, situations, circumstances and events as they occur. Your struggle will cease. Realize that when we feel frustrated or upset by person or situation, we are not reacting to that person but to "our own feelings" about the person or situation. So who is responsible for these feelings? The second principle to harness this energy of love is "Responsibility." Responsibility means not blaming anything or anyone for our situation, including ourselves. Take an effortless approach to your problem; it is an opportunity to create something new and beautiful from this lousy situation. The third principle to harness this energy of love is "Vulnerability" (defenselessness). It is relinquishing our need to convince or persuade others of "My POV"(point of view). When we become defensive, blame others and don't accept the present, we are wasting our energy. Almost 99 percent of our energy is wasted in trying to convert others or to defend My POV. A defensive approach creates resistance, and so you lose energy, but by acceptance, you let God's presence be felt. If you learn to accept present and be only a spectator of the moment, then you shall experience the feeling of exultation of spirit in everything that is alive. This is Yoga, the union with God. Jinendra Swami of ParamShanti Yogashrama, author of Pilgrimage to Self, was born in Mumbai, India, educated in the U.S. He conducts retreats, workshops and meditation awareness programs across USA, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and East Africa, sharing his teachings on how to achieve "Sustainable Happiness" in our lives. He also is proactive in various social, cultural, and spiritual organizations, namely Yoga Allied and Research Institute, Space Time Research Institute, JIN Research Foundation, Human Aura Research Institute, and Shakti Yogashram. Visit www.jinendra.org. Jinendra Swami welcomes all queries from genuine seekers at jinendra@jinendra.org Copyright © Jinendra Swami |
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Feb 2004 |
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