In A Second You Become Happy Or Unhappy

Why is it that in deep sleep you are not happy or unhappy? When we analyze it we find out that the mind is not there in deep sleep. But it has not left you because as soon as you wake up it is there. Then you are either happy or unhappy depending on what thoughts you are thinking. In meditation, you are freed from your thoughts and from your mind so in a second you are free. You are in a higher state of consciousness whereby you are not identified with your mind even if you are thinking those thoughts.

Transcript

Satsang Podcast with Sri In a Second,

We Become Happy or Unhappy Let's investigate for a moment what you are and what happiness is,

Because everyone has had the experience that some event can happen where you're with somebody that you love or care about,

With your family possibly,

On a nice occasion,

And you feel happy.

And then someone says something to you,

Or you get some message,

And you feel unhappy.

There's a story that's often told about this,

Where a person is on vacation and has a friend taking care of their beloved cat.

And she's left her friend with all the instructions as to how to care for her cat,

How to make sure the cat gets the right amount of food,

Gets to go outside and play some time during the day,

And then comes in at night.

And the friend,

After a few days,

Calls this lady and says,

I'm really sorry to tell you,

But your cat has died.

And the lady who was having a wonderful time,

Being so happy,

In a second,

Now becomes miserable,

Sad,

Upset,

Because her cat has died.

Her beloved cat is no longer there.

And then,

After spending two days mourning,

Distraught,

Upset,

The friend calls back,

And the friend says,

Actually,

I was wrong.

I thought the cat was dead.

I saw a dead cat in the street,

But the cat has come home.

Your cat is alive.

And now this lady goes again from feeling distraught,

Sad,

Miserable,

Grieving,

To elated and happy that the cat is alive.

So let's analyze for a moment what has happened.

Actually,

Nothing has happened other than the thoughts within this person's mind,

Within this lady's mind.

So here she was,

On vacation,

Happy,

Having a great time,

And then this message came that your cat has died.

So the only problem now is there in the mind,

Because the mind,

Now believing that everything was good with the cat,

Everything was good at home,

She was having a happy time,

Enjoying her vacation,

And now one communication happened.

Some words were conveyed,

Your cat has died,

And in her mind,

All the conclusions began about what that means to her,

Not having her precious cat around anymore,

And all the suffering begins.

If the friend hadn't told her anything,

Hadn't called her,

There would have been no suffering.

So where is the suffering?

That's what we have to analyze.

And we can see from this that the suffering is only there in the mind.

The example is often given of deep sleep,

Because in deep sleep,

No matter whether the cat is alive or dead,

You are fine when you're sleeping,

And the mind is not active.

So then,

Because of the mind and its conclusions,

Whether they're true or not true,

In this case it wasn't true,

So the person,

The lady,

Went from being happy to unhappy,

And then being happy again if the cat was alive.

So we can see from this how in a second,

Whatever the identification is with your mind will create your happiness or your unhappiness.

So if you are happy or unhappy,

If you are identified with your mind,

When your mind tells you something is good,

Something is enjoyable,

You'll be happy.

And when your mind tells you something is bad or missing or there's a loss,

You'll be unhappy.

So the mind's functioning is based on gain and loss.

If you have what you think you need to make you happy,

Then you're happy.

If your vacation is going well and the weather is good and the flights were on time,

Then you're happy.

If the flights are delayed or canceled and the weather is bad on your vacation,

Again you're unhappy.

So your mind is telling you then that your happiness is based on things going according to your preference.

And the preferences exist in the waking state,

And the waking state is synonymous with mind.

So whatever your mind thinks is your experience.

Now we bring the attention to our work,

Which is the work of meditation.

Because in the meditative awareness,

When you sit and you close your eyes,

You experience a state,

We can call it bliss,

We can call it pure consciousness,

We can call it pure,

Free forever.

But that state is when the identification is not there with your mind,

Because the mind is always telling you,

I need this to be happy,

I have to gain this,

And I have to not lose that,

Or I'll be unhappy.

So in this fourth state of consciousness,

In the meditative awareness,

Rather than you identified as a mind,

Happy or unhappy,

You is identified as pure space.

Just closing your eyes,

There is the space.

So we're cultivating attending to space,

Attending to pure awareness,

Rather than attending to all the vagaries of the mind.

Because as that example showed us,

Whether the cat is alive or dead will affect what your mind will think about what your future experience will be,

Because here the lady is on vacation,

Having a good time,

Nothing has changed,

But she's projecting into her future experience not being pleasant because the cat's not around anymore in the physical form.

So we can see how this is all existing on the level of her mind.

Nothing has changed,

Nothing has really happened.

So we call this the cat in the head,

Meaning the identification with your mind.

Because in meditation,

When you're knowing that space of your own true self,

Pure,

Free forever,

The perfection is there.

Happiness is no longer based on getting the preferences of the mind or not getting the preference of the mind.

In fact,

That state of meditation is not happy or unhappy.

We call it happiness because there's a sense of fulfillment,

Contentment,

Peace,

Joy,

Bliss when you're knowing your own true self.

So the solution is knowing your own true self at every moment,

Not looking for your happiness somewhere else.

You're no longer basing your happiness on getting what the mind needs to feel happy or basing your unhappiness on not having what the mind needs,

And then you're unhappy.

So the change or the shift is made when you base your happiness,

Your joy,

Your peace on knowing your true self,

Forever pure,

Forever free.

And in meditation,

The more you cultivate through your own sadhana or practice,

Knowing pure,

Free forever,

You reach that transcended state,

Which is the fourth state of consciousness.

So you're no longer a victim to what happens in the waking state.

You're no longer worried about what you said or didn't say or what you feel or don't feel or what this person's reaction was or wasn't.

You're knowing the purity of your being.

Now it's not a state of disinterestedness or of not caring about others.

This is where a misconception can come in because when you're knowing your true state,

When you're knowing your own happiness and joy from within yourself,

Meaning not within your body,

But meaning that when you close your eyes and watch space,

That space alone is everywhere.

So everyone that you know is not separate from you.

Everyone is that same space.

The personalities might be pleasant or unpleasant.

The actions might be life-supporting or life-destroying,

But the space remains the same.

So you still discriminate as to who is life-supporting because now,

As a meditator,

As the one tuning into the pure,

Free forever being,

It totally supports the life because the life is who you are and who everyone is.

That very essence,

The sap that's in all of the plants,

The light of the sun that's shining alone everywhere,

The same on everybody and everything,

Is the very life,

Is the very self that you are now.

So it's not that you give up on life.

On the contrary,

Now you live the best life because you're not stuck.

You're not unable to enjoy your vacation out in the sun or on the beautiful ocean or wherever you are because this thought of the cat in the head.

Now you see the glory of the unborn,

Undying,

Unchanging being.

So the cat has not died because the cat was never born.

The cat is the same self,

The same being that you are,

And that is unchanging.

So transcending the waking state into the fourth state,

Which is the meditative awareness,

Is our constant practice,

Our constant attention,

Because that is the pure happiness,

The pure peace,

The pure bliss.

As soon as you place your happiness on something other than you,

Which is the whole,

Which is all,

Then you will be bound,

And in a second your mind will become happy or unhappy.

So as the knower of the mind,

As the one who's aware,

Watching your mind,

Observing the mechanism,

You become aware at every moment when the mind creates happiness or unhappiness.

You become aware when that mixture has happened because you are never unhappy.

You are sat chit anand,

The eternal unborn being.

If you are never born,

Then you can never die.

So what is there to be unhappy about?

You are the pure unborn being,

Forever blissful,

Forever happy.

So your sadhna then is anything that creates happiness.

Nothing should ever snatch your happiness,

But you have to know what true happiness is,

Because true happiness is knowing your true nature.

You are that self.

You have never become the body or the mind,

Which can become happy or unhappy.

So if you notice these changes in your mind,

Where now you say,

I'm unhappy,

Now you say,

I'm upset,

I'm emotionally reacting to this situation or that situation,

You know that for what it is,

The mechanism,

The car,

When your car is puttering or something's wrong with your car,

You don't say,

It's me.

You don't say,

I am the car and I am unhappy and I am miserable because I'm not functioning properly or I'm unhealthy.

You know that the car needs to be taken in for service.

So if your body has some illness,

You take your body in to the doctor or to the nutritionist to get the proper food,

Diet,

Nutritional program or medicine that will cure or help cure your body.

But it's not you because you are never diseased.

So then comes the awareness that the only real disease is in your thinking.

The only real disease is when you're identified as this born body because as a born body,

You will have to die and you will have to get some kind of disease or some kind of ailments in order for the body to transition.

But when you know yourself as unborn,

Immortal and blissful,

Just by tuning in in meditation,

Just by closing the eyes,

All the senses are turned inward towards the Self.

That's what we call inward,

Pratyahara,

Turning inward of the senses,

Meaning that the senses are no longer going towards their objects.

And when the senses are no longer going towards their objects,

The senses are not looking for enjoyment in the objects.

Doesn't mean that you don't enjoy all the objects.

This is where it gets tricky because you still enjoy eating the mango,

Which I just had some mango and it tastes delicious.

So the senses can enjoy,

But you're not bound by the senses because you're not identified with them for your enjoyment.

So if you don't have a mango or a papaya,

Which I had this morning,

In your house and you get the sweetness of the fruit and enjoy,

Your enjoyment is not snatched by not having that because your enjoyment is already present.

So you are first.

Enjoyment is already permeating everything.

The forms,

The manifestation comes second and they're all there for your enjoyment.

So whether you're looking at a beautiful sunset,

Whether you're looking at a beautiful tree,

Whether you're looking at some beautiful decoration in your house,

Whether you're looking at a beautiful person standing in front of you,

The beauty first is you because without you there looking,

Without the knower or the seer,

There's no one there to acknowledge its beauty.

So the beauty starts with you.

You the self are permeating everything because without you the self,

You couldn't wake up in the morning.

You don't wake yourself up,

You just wake up.

Even if the alarm goes off,

What wakes you up?

The mother doesn't have any milk in the breast and then all of a sudden the baby comes and suckles the breast and milk comes out.

Who did that?

Did you make yourself have milk in your breast?

No.

That self is creating it all.

That self is moving it all.

So you and your own personal doership cannot really make you alive.

You can take care of the body to keep it as fit and alive as possible,

But without you the self moving through your mind,

Moving through the physical form,

Without you driving the car,

The car can't go anywhere.

So you are first and this is what we come to see.

So now all that bliss,

All that joy,

All that happiness that you put in the people and the things and the forms,

Now you're going to the source of it all.

So imagine the vastness of that happiness and joy that you are,

That's there at your source and that's why we meditate.

That's why we practice Amaram Ham,

Madhuram Ham.

That's why we keep the attention moving to I am pure,

I am free,

I am forever,

I am immortal and blissful because the mind will tell you I am these thoughts,

I am these feelings,

I am these needs,

I have these qualifications and I don't have these qualifications.

I am this body which craves and desires and needs.

This is what the mind will tell you.

But how does the mind function without you?

So if we know the source of the mind,

If we know the sun,

Then the rays of the sun are not separate from the sun.

Without the sun there's no rays.

Without the sun you can't look at the mountain or the river and be able to see it.

So without you the self,

Nothing is in existence.

So if we turn the attention,

If we now know the sun,

We know the power source where it's all coming from.

So if we turn the attention to the self,

Imagine the great power you have as you being all,

The great prosperity you have when you know it's all you,

It's all that highest prosperity,

It's all the self.

You are that self and all is that self.

And this is where we want to keep attending.

But the mind is very tenacious because the mind grabs that power of the true self and then says,

Me,

Me,

Me,

I need,

I need,

I need.

I want,

I want,

I want,

I'm affected,

I'm upset,

I'm angry,

I'm depressed.

This is what the mind says.

But when you know the true I has never become the mind,

The true I is much faster than the limited body and form which is born and one day would die.

That pure I that you are is all,

Is infinite,

Is immortal and blissful.

So this is where the meditation on Amaram Ham,

Madhuram Ham,

Because you've been saying,

I am this person,

I am this name,

Ever since you were given a name when you were a small child you became that.

And in the same way now,

The truth is introduced as to who you are.

You are immortal,

You are blissful.

I am immortal,

I am blissful.

So rather than the I now,

Rather than you,

As we said at the beginning,

As I said at the beginning,

Becoming identified as happiness or unhappiness,

That can happen in one split second,

That you,

That I is immortal,

Is blissful,

Is Amaram and Madhuram,

Is pure,

Is free forever.

So the attention and the practice,

Because otherwise if there's no practice you'll keep the default which will be to go to the name and the form and base your happiness or unhappiness on whatever is happening in your life,

Whatever is happening in the body,

Healthy or unhealthy,

Whatever is happening in the mind,

Good or bad,

Gain or loss.

But instead you know you're the vastness which is forever healthy,

Which is never unhealthy,

Which is never depressed,

Which is never sad,

Which is never happy.

It just is the source of all,

Pure and free.

So now the practice becomes this,

Rather than what the practice has been before.

And it does take practice.

So we keep meditating and listening and slowly and slowly we come to know,

I am pure,

Free forever.

You are pure,

Free forever.

You are that perfection.

Nothing can be added that will make you more.

Nothing can be taken away that you will be made anything less because you are all.

You are pure,

Free forever.

Amaram ham madhuram ham,

Om shanti,

Om peace.

That peace is forever present as you.