Gita Introduction

The Source of Happiness:

Let us first explore the source of happiness: where does happiness lie, where does it emanate from? Right now, if I asked you what would make you happy, you may give me an answer, after you reflect on it, suggesting that your happiness lies in  a certain amount of money, or power, or fame. There are a million different things that would make different people happy depending on their inner drives or Vasanas,   Yet the same person, in this case yourself, can look back and find that the source of happiness has shifted many times over his or her lifetime.

In the first stage, as a young infant,  a person finds that happiness lies in the bosom of his mother. When the mother picks up the baby, suckles him, holds him to her, he is secure and happy. As a young toddler, as long as his mother is playing with him and cooing to him, he is blissful and happy. The source of his happiness is his mother. The infant laughs gleefully with his whole heart and soul, when his mother is playing with him. When she is away, he is sad.

In the second stage, as he gets older, he finds toys, little racing cars or marbles, are attractive to him. He starts to find happiness in these toys and objects. The source of happiness gradually shifts. Mother remains the source at some times, but at other times, the child finds happiness in his toys and collection of precious objects. He finds happiness now also when sitting in the lap of his grandfather and listening to stories and looking at picture books.

In the third stage, school and university start offering new sources of happiness. He finds happiness in the scientific books or getting Honors in the University. Sports and excelling in them is yet another source. Assume he passes, as you did, with High Honors and excel in academics. You are very happy. But now the source of your happiness shifts.

In stage four, you are looking for a lucrative job, which brings with it money and fame and power. Because of your achievements in earlier stages, you are able to accomplish that and you are happy once again. But again the source shifts to another stage!

In stage five, all five of your senses are tuned to finding a woman - the woman of your dreams. When you do find her, she is titillating to all your senses and your mind, and even to your Buddhi ( your intellect) All systems are screaming for her. You realise now that the real source of your happiness lies in this person; you are even willing to give up some of your money, fame and power to achieve this source of your happiness! To your amazement and delight, she agrees to be yours forever. Your happiness knows no limits! But again, within a  couple of years, the source shifts to the final stage.

Stage six, the zenith of these stages, starts when both of our heroes above start to wish for a baby. The happiness that he found in the woman of his dreams is now shared with the imagined happiness of his own son or daughter. After some time, he and his wife are blessed with a son . His appiness knows no bounds! This is considered the zenith of the stages of the sources of happiness.

After this, when the child grows from a young infant to a boy or young adult, the happiness and bliss that he brought to his father diminishes. In future years, the person finds that the sources of his happiness fluctuate forwards and backwards - back to seeking money, fame, power, or another woman; toys again, but now of a different kind; stories but again of a different nature. The cycle of searching for the source of happiness continues.   

How can we understand this? And where does the Soul fit into all this? What is the Soul?

Let us take sunshine as an analogy for happiness. As I write this, the sun has just started to shine in New Jersey . Everything looks beautiful and I think to myself that New Jersey is the place to be because this mild morning sun is here and everything looks beautiful. But 12 hours later, it wil get dark here. Dawn has shifted continually as I was watching the sun, from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, to the midwest and thence to California. I race in my car following the dawning of the sun, constantly looking for the ‘source’ of my sunshine. Along the way, every dawn looks beautiful to me but some are more beautiful and spectacular. The ‘zenith’ of my dawn may well be in California ( lets call that stage six) or at stage three, in Denver, but I realise that  the dawn is not the real source of my happiness - the real source of happiness is the Sun. The source of my sunshine, my dawn, my happiness, is not the place where I find it, but it is the Sun itself.

So, going back to the original question: where does your happiness lie, what will make you happy, what is the source of happiness, what is the Sun of your happiness? It is the Atman, the Soul, the Spirit or Life within you.  It is known as the Self with a capital S. When you realise the Self, you are said to be blissful forever; that is the source of all happiness - the Sun from which comes all the dawns. Self-realised Souls are eternally happy. We on earth today, cannot hope to become Self-realised. But even moving just a wee bit closer to the Atman, the Soul, the Self, creates great peace of mind and happiness.

But what is the Atman or the Soul? Where is it? How do I know its there? The Atman is the ‘I’ you refer to when you think of yourself. As I mentioned above , as you go through the various stages looking for happiness, you say “i’ am an infant, I am a child, I am an adolescent, I am a young man, I am an old man and ready to die. The body keeps changing its cells and its appearance,  the Mind keeps changing its desires and its emotions , the Buddhi ( Intellect ) keeps learning new knowledge so how could the “I” be the same? The only “I” that has remained constant is the Life-force within you; the electricity or Infinity which we call Life. Or which scriptures have called the Self, Atman, Spirit or Soul.

You say this is ‘my body’, ‘my Mind’ or ‘my buddhi’. This implies that the body, mind or buddhi is not the real you; they are owned by you. Again, who is that you then, if not the Self?   

We all crave to find that real Self of ours, but we dont know it. We find that certain objects or beings on the ‘outside’ reflect our Self. When that happens, we see ourSelves in that object or person which makes it very attractive and the ‘source’ of our happiness. For whatever reason.

A man may pine away to the point of starvation and weight loss because the object of his love does not care for him equally. Another man may find this woman to be ugly and ask why the first is starving himself for such an ugly woman. The first may reply that if he could only see her through his eyes, he would understand. We all project, onto the objects we desire,  the Self within us; each being different,  finds different areas of the world attractive. We should instead start to look inwards towards our Souls, and look at the Souls in other people at the same time, not their outward manifestations like their color, or their wealth or their beauty or lack of, but rather the beauty of the Atman within each person. The world would be a happier place.

But what guarantee is there that a Soul actually exists? How can you prove such a thing?

( more on this later...tired now)