What is the happiness that comes from inside?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
if you say that happiness comes from inside what does it mean actually I would say that it’s more that fulfillment comes from inside and happiness can be at different levels so when we eat some delicious food we do get some pleasure that is coming from outside if we go to nature and see some beautiful scenery we get pleasure we can say coming from outside at one level we can even say when we go to a temple and feel some pleasure that also is coming from outside we are going somewhere to a particular place so it’s not so much that happiness can’t come from outside but rather it is that our dependence on external happiness that is what causes problems because at a physical level we need food which is external and with respect to food it’s that absence of food causes pain but the presence of food it relieves the pain, gives some joy but it can’t give enduring it can’t give lasting joy so at the physical level is there happiness, the scriptures also talk about various levels of happiness so the happiness in the earthly planetary system, happiness in heavens happiness in Brahma Loka, happiness in Brahma Jyoti happiness in Bhakti so we could say there is also there is physical happiness there is different kinds of happiness but none of these happiness firstly they cannot last forever or even for long and secondly we can’t count on them they may be there today and they may be gone tomorrow I may have a beautiful house and I feel joy satisfaction, sense of achievement I have got this house and that’s one way of happiness it’s not that we deny that happiness but it’s just that tomorrow if something changes, then what do I do if my happiness is coming only from there then I will feel that my life is worthless so basically we can say there is a body, the mind and the soul so our consciousness is invested in the body it is invested in the mind and it is originating from the soul so when the consciousness is invested in the body then things connected with the body will also give us pleasure what to speak of body if I am attached to cricket cricket match may happen thousands of miles away I may get some pleasure and connection with cricket also so basically it is the consciousness getting connected with and attached to or invested in something that gives us the experience of pleasure or pain with respect to anything if I have no interest in baseball and some world cup of baseball is going on right next to me but I don’t get any pleasure so it is the investment of consciousness that determines where we get happiness and where we don’t get happiness now by default when the soul is in the body the soul’s consciousness is in the body and therefore physically pleasurable stimuli will give you pleasure but these are, because it is not the soul it is separate from the soul so the pleasure from there is temporary it is peripheral to the soul and for us the mental happiness say for example somebody likes to read, somebody likes to then they may read and they may think about the book and one day relish the book so we could say subtler happiness in some ways can last longer somebody is interested in concepts say somebody is into research then they get some pleasure oh I want to solve this problem, I want to do this, I want to do that and they absorb their happiness may not be so effusive like laughing and but there is pleasure in that also so basically when the pleasure comes from things which are further and further away from the soul then the happiness becomes less reliable, less lasting the closer it comes to the soul the connection is likely to be more enduring now at present even spiritual happiness for us may depend on externals we feel spiritual happiness when we go to a program we take darshan of the deities so this is because for the soul presently the consciousness is rooted from the mind to the body and at present the soul practically doesn’t experience itself separate from the body mind although the soul is separate from the body and mind the soul doesn’t experience itself that way, its consciousness is you could say almost not just invested but locked in it, so that’s why even spiritual reality we experience through the body and mind but by the practice of bhakti as we become purified so then more and more say right now we need to go to the temple to feel spiritual but if we keep practicing bhakti then spiritualities are getting impressed on the mind and then we can remember Krishna we can think about Krishna’s darshan, we can think about Krishna katha and even if physically it’s not there, still we can be spiritual and actually spirituality is not just mental also ultimately the soul becomes awakened and even if the material mind is not involved the soul can directly perceive Krishna so when you talk about internal happiness it is about seeking happiness internally for us the way to the internal is also through the external so bhakti yoga is about there are other paths where we just turn away from the world and go to the forest and try to peer inwards and look at spiritual reality but bhakti doesn’t make it such a difficult process your consciousness is outward it’s very difficult to withdraw it from outward but within the outward direction of consciousness regulate it instead of letting it you want to look at beautiful things, instead of just looking at anything and everything beautiful, look at the beautiful form of Krishna want to eat delicious things so just eating anything and everything eat food that is offered to Krishna so in this way the connection of the consciousness with Krishna is established and the connection may start with the through the physical itself but it comes to the mental and eventually it comes to the spiritual and then when it comes to the spiritual then there is no more need for the external that doesn’t mean the external is rejected but there is no dependence on the external it is said sometimes that the deity worship is for less intelligent people some people say like that now what it is is that it’s not exactly like that that those who are not spiritually so evolved, they need to see Krishna’s form externally now advanced devotees, it is not that they don’t care for the deities but even when the deities are not present they pursue Krishna but of course if deities are present, we have such wonderful pastimes, chaitanya charitamrita of Madhavendra Puri, having special reciprocations with Kheerchore Gopinath and others so in that sense if there are external manifestations, they also relied in that but they don’t need that we in the sadhaka stage, we need external manifestations by which our consciousness will become spiritualized and then as we get a spiritual connection with Krishna then we can relish happiness internally itself