Love As The Highest Happiness

The craving of the living being for love (to love and to be loved) is, in its’ original form, a spiritual desire emanating from the true self (atma), the soul itself. The awakening of this spiritual love (prema in the yoga texts) is held to be the highest attainment of human existence.

Attainment of spiritual love is not something a person ‘acquires’ from any external source. It eternally resides within the heart of all.

Transcript

Nithyananda Gopramdha Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya So,

We've been speaking on the subject of happiness.

Now for three weeks we began with exploring what has been described as the great unhappiness epidemic and the attempt to try and find a chemical solution where you think you can put something in your mouth or inhale it or put something up your nose or in your veins and it will induce happiness.

In the second talk that we did we spoke about the difference between material and spiritual happiness and the fact that we are eternal spiritual beings therefore any kind of material experience while it may stimulate us and induce some experience of pleasure that this is not the same as happiness and a person can in fact be engaged in excessive stimulation of the senses and things enjoying all kinds of material pleasure and still be borderline suicidal because they don't address the actual spiritual need and the need for happiness is a spiritual need not a material need and then last week we explored about service the attempt to do good for others how it gives us a taste that is actually an introduction to what real spiritual happiness is and I say an introduction because we basically become reconnected or we begin to become connected with our deeper spiritual self and the very nature of the soul,

The nature of the living being itself so tonight I was asked to speak on love as the greatest happiness before we.

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This is a really big subject so firstly there has to be a recognition that I am an eternal spiritual being that this body is not who I am,

It's something I am using,

It's something I am inhabiting,

I'm residing within and if my life is simply focused on this external covering and its experiences I won't find happiness,

I won't experience what is my actual right the nature of the living being,

The spiritual being is to exist eternally in a state of great happiness but there is another characteristic the desire to love or to be loved,

The desire for love is actually a spiritual desire,

It's not a material desire and while we can attempt to fulfill the need for love simply with other temporary personalities in a temporary dimension and while we may have some very happy experiences it will not fulfill us in the way that we can be fulfilled and the highest attainment of yoga is this experience,

This awakening and this deep immersion and this condition of spiritual love in the teachings of the spiritual teachings of the different yoga texts they all absolutely acknowledge a higher power it is futile,

It is frustrating,

It is disappointing if you live your life in a totally self-focused,

Self-centered way without any recognition of any higher existence or any higher power in the yoga system there was a lot of,

It's actually really amazing that this higher existence or God as we might address could be experienced in three principle and unique ways one way was the experience of what is called Brahman this is an infinite ocean of spiritual energy and light that is the foundation for all material creation for practically speaking for everything and there were a category of yogis that attempted again to reunite with this great infinite ocean of spiritual energy of which I am part of which I am part and the experience that the yogis would have if they actually encountered this great spiritual it was absolutely ecstatic,

It was not just a bit of a rush it was overwhelmingly wonderful and in that condition if it was a person genuinely experienced this they would experience a freedom from all fear and all anxiety so it was considered like a state of supreme happiness the second feature of this higher power,

This absolute truth or God was an all-pervading feature that is found throughout the material creation and actually sitting within the hearts of all living beings this form was called Paramatma the living being is called the Atma or Self this other being was called the Paramatma or the Supreme Being and the vast majority of yoga practitioners since time immemorial the focus of their endeavor I know that at this time Hatha Yoga has become very prominent and there has always been since time immemorial practitioners who followed this path but the majority of yoga practitioners sought a union of the individual being with the Supreme Being,

This Paramatma and this personal manifestation of Godhead,

This personal manifestation of Brahman is not temporary,

It is not transitory,

It is an eternal spiritual manifestation and when the yogis would encounter and finally have this divine vision of this beautiful form standing within their heart,

Standing upon a lotus it was so ecstatically wonderful that they would be overwhelmed in a profound state of spiritual ecstasy the third feature of the absolute truth,

The third feature of this highest truth was called Bhagavan.

Bhagavan was a personal manifestation of Godhead that was overwhelmingly and ecstatically beautiful and sweet no angry guy,

No judgmental guy,

No pointing the finger,

Don't piss me off kind of guy it was the embodiment of nectar,

Of nectarine sweetness this feature of the highest truth was understood within certain schools of spiritual philosophy to be actually the foundation for everything and for all other manifestations in the Brahman Samhita,

It speaks to this reality it was with this personal and absolutely sweet and gorgeous feature the personal feature of this highest power that one was able to completely and fully experience the meaning of love this is what was referred to in the attainment of what was called love for God because many people their understanding of God or Godhead is somewhat immature or somewhat limited,

Therefore the thought or the idea of falling in love with some extraordinarily beautiful and sweet personality that absolutely takes my heart away,

Takes my breath away leaves me absolutely unable to live without an intimate and loving connection this is not something that people can easily understand and we see it and I've mentioned before and I'm using this example because we live in a country that is predominantly being exposed to Christianity and Lord Jesus Christ when asked what was his first and foremost he was actually asked what is the first and foremost amongst the law,

The commandments and law and he said the first and foremost was to love the Lord thy God with your whole heart,

Your whole mind,

Your whole soul,

Your whole being and the second is like that,

Like unto that,

To love thy brother as thyself or thy neighbour as thyself I mean this is an extraordinary concept that has just been skipped over and no focus is placed on it if you ask the average person who aspires to follow Lord Jesus Christ what does that mean,

What is that state of love that is so utterly,

Utterly overwhelming that your whole heart,

Your whole heart,

Your whole mind is lost in this love do you know anyone that has ever experienced it?

How is it experienced?

Do you know how to attain it?

And of course the answer to those is just like it's a question mark,

You know and people don't want to go there and that's exceedingly unfortunate in the Vedic Shastra,

The teachings of the Vedas,

They describe that the experience of merging into this ocean of impersonal existence this spiritual light,

While it is incredibly overwhelming and it is a form of happiness that leaves you not feeling like you want or need anything you are utterly satisfied in that condition and when they compare that experience for those who have experienced it to what is material happiness some of these great teachers said it's like my lips curl and I spit and it's like whoa that's a bit radical,

You know,

Really you're going to go there?

You know that's like pretty heavy but it wasn't done in a negative and a way to denigrate it was a revelation of this spiritual truth and reality one of our Paramgurus,

His name was Rupa Goswami he wrote this and quoting again from a Vedic reference he said when we compare the great and transcendental happiness one can experience from merging into this ocean of light to what it is to become lost in this ocean of love he said it is like comparing the water that could be contained in the hoofprint of a cow with the ocean this is not hyperbole,

This is not an exaggeration this is speaking about the most amazing transcendental condition no one,

No one can be forced or pushed down any one of these spiritual paths that produce different types of spiritual experience they must be experienced voluntarily and with an actual desire there has to be a strong desire to have this experience and it was with this resolute commitment that the transcendentalist walked on their spiritual path always recognizing that I am dependent upon the blessings of some higher power to actually achieve anything I'm incapable of doing something simply by my own effort and endeavor even if I do not recognize any higher power and I think that it is by my determination that I have some spiritual realization or experience that is not an appropriate or complete understanding without,

Without these spiritual blessings one cannot attain actually anything Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra speaks to this when he uses the term three times Ishvara Pranidhanava,

That it is by this humility of heart this absolute condition of surrender to this higher power and here he speaks of him as Ishvara,

The personal feature of the highest truth or Bhagavan You have within your heart of hearts,

Part of the soul itself,

Part of your eternal nature is to exist in that state of love and that is why we are constantly hankering for love constantly hankering,

Looking,

Looking,

Looking,

Hoping to find that perfect love that we hope is real and does exist It is part of your nature and it is lying dormant,

It is lying covered The spiritual path to awakenness is known as the path of bhakti Bhakti is not anything to do with this world,

It is not of this world It speaks to the eternal nature,

The Sanatana Dharma of the living being,

The Atma itself and when one engages in processes or spiritual paths that awaken this natural tendency of the soul itself and reunites us,

The living being,

With the actual Lord of our heart lost in an ocean of unimaginable and ecstatic love The great spiritual personalities who came to this experience,

Not in public but in private They would experience overwhelming,

I don't know,

What's the good English word?

It's like a rapture,

I don't know,

Rapture is probably not a good word A beatitude is rather deep for most people that word Where in their reuniting with the actual Lord of their heart they would sometimes burst into a condition of such happiness an ecstatic condition that they would shed tears,

Endless tears Their body would shiver,

There are actually symptoms of this experience and what it feels like is being described in some of the more confidential parts of the Vedas So I don't know what you guys think about this I usually don't talk about this kind of stuff because it's very personal and it's not everybody is eager to embrace this opportunity But if we are going to speak of the different types of happiness that can be experienced I think everybody is on board with the recognition that so-called material pleasure is not actually fulfilling It titillates and excites us but it's not really fulfilling It doesn't bring us to a state of great peace and profound happiness,

It doesn't last But if one wants to come to a higher state of happiness it must have a spiritual focus and this happiness will be a spiritual experience and there are gradations,

There are varieties of spiritual happiness and the highest experience of spiritual happiness is called prema this condition of spiritual love So when a person begins this natural condition of love which resides within the heart as I said it's already there,

It's simply covered When we engage in a process that begins to uncover it and this love begins to bloom and we become,

We are able to have increasingly more wonderful realizations of this highest truth of Bhagavan When our love for this most lovable of personalities becomes awakened the condition of love that is experienced there cannot be exceeded There is nothing higher,

There is nothing more wonderful So because we are speaking on the topic of happiness Yveshwar asked me to also speak on this topic,

On the subject It's kind of a real bummer that God is kind of lost I don't know,

Today it's not like everyone,

I mean but it's increasingly common that God has fallen out of favor It's not a cool subject I mean people are willing to,

Oh yeah,

I put it out there to the universe What do you mean?

You prayed to the universe or you asked something of the universe I mean what are you talking about?

Rocks and water and fire and air?

You worship that as if it's someone that can respond to you But if somebody wants to talk about God,

That's just like,

Oh my God,

What happened to you?

And it's just like,

What?

You know,

Don't you guys get it?

You can't do that,

That's not logical or intelligent and it's also not true While it is true that we may make an appeal and we may be thinking I'm making an appeal to the universe and I'm getting some answers But any exchange like this is personality driven It is not impersonal,

I can't talk to the light and have the light inspire me,

Right?

It's not a possibility And the idea that you could do that is just,

It's unfortunate As I said,

There is no requirement for a person to completely embrace the personal feature of the highest truth or this higher power That's a personal choice that you may want to do or not do But there is a need to accept there is some greater power above me And that I am in need,

I am in need of direction and of help There is one famous verse in the Bhagwat Purana where it describes a man that has fallen in a deep hole Cannot extract himself from that,

He needs the help of someone else to pull him out of that hole And that example was used in relation to our plight If we are overwhelmed by ignorance and this ignorance is primarily manifest with the thought or the notion that this temporary body that is destined for death is me No,

It's not That's not who you are Your worth,

Your loveability,

Your beauty is not tied or in any way connected to this body We are talking about inherent characteristics of the Atma,

The soul itself,

The self If a person chooses in their spiritual journey to relate to this higher existence,

This higher truth as an impersonal energy There's nothing wrong with that,

That's fantastic You need to begin to walk on the spiritual path to find happiness But if you are interested in your greatest happiness,

It is experienced in connection with the most profound and overwhelming experience of love With the personal feature of the highest truth is known as Bhagavan Okay,

Does anybody have any question?

Let me just add one thing You know,

This process that we follow,

The use of these mantras,

Spiritual sound They can be used to explore and to seek to attain the realization of any of those features of the highest truth Any of those features of Godhead or God The results are different One may have this most amazing experience of being able to raise the life air and to leave through the Brahman-rudra And to merge into this ocean of spiritual existence and become utterly free from fear and anxiety to attain a state of amazing peacefulness But I would be remiss if I did not tell you that this is not the best use of these mantras or spiritual sounds The best use is when we seek full self-realization,

Full enlightenment and the ultimate experience of the awakening of this spiritual love Okay,

Any question?

Was that too far out or?

We can handle that I don't know Nobody might show up next week And as Ibi-Shwar said,

The proof of the eating is,

The proof of the putting is in the eating We're not talking about a sincere aspirant on the spiritual path does not seek to mentally,

You know,

Play around and develop ideas and adhere to things No,

This,

We're talking about a real full awakening of enlightenment,

This spiritual experience and every one of you has the capacity There is no special qualification needed We are talking about the eternal nature of the atma,

The self You have an eternal nature and this is a process of uncovering that It's not something that you acquire from outside or learn Okay,

We good?

Thank you very much Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you

Reviews

Best talk I've heard in a long time.

That was not too far out at all! So much joy to be experienced with Kirtan and the trancindental mantras. Thank you