Finding Lasting Happiness and Peace

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

One of the most common pursuits of people all over the world is the search for lasting happiness and peace. Most of us want to avoid pain at all costs. Science is working feverishly to put an end to human pain. Billions of dollars are spent in research and development to cure diseases and to find a way to eliminate pain. For physical pain, we have a variety of painkillers. Medicine has even devised a variety of medications to dull the suffering of emotional pain.

Seeking relief from pain

Outside the bounds of medicine, people find their own way to relieve pain. Some turn to drugs and alcohol or sensual pleasures to drown their sorrows. Others immerse themselves in a variety of entertainment or recreational activities to escape the pains of life. The human organism has a set of reflexes, as do most living creatures. The reflex is one of survival. It tells us to avoid pain and seek that which makes us feel good.

We continually seek a state in which we are free of pain so that we can feel good. We continually seek states of happiness and joy. The problem with worldly happiness, however, is that it only provides temporary joy.

The happiness we think we are deriving from the world is only an illusion. While involved in the pleasures of the world, we are not aware that time threatens to take from us all that we love. The pleasures of this world are but transitory. They cannot last forever.

The lack of permanence in our outer world

If we make a list of all the worldly things from which people derive pleasure, we will find there is danger of loss. Money comes and goes. We have seen very wealthy people lose all they had when the stock market crashed. We hear of people living in wealthy mansions losing them to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, landslides, fires, earthquakes, or volcanoes. Precious jewelry can be stolen. Name and fame turns with the tides.

Happiness from our relationships is also subject to loss. Sometimes we lose a loved one through illness or death. There are times that we cannot get along and rather than work things out, we leave those we once loved. Ultimately, everything made of matter perishes. Either the things that give us pleasure will be one day taken from us or lost, or in the end, we will be taken from the world at the time of our death.

What Really Matters

Real happiness is finding joy and contentment in life. Most people, when faced with a terminal disease, no longer care about money. The things that matter to them are their family, what they have accomplished in life, and their faith in God. These are intangible gifts. Love becomes more important. Love for their family, love for God, and what they did to express their love for humanity are the gifts they take with them into the beyond.

From Darkness Sprouts Light

Many times, it is the pain that comes from loss that paves the way to a spiritual awakening. It is when we experience loss and pain that we turn to a higher Power to help us. Many times, we turn to God only when we need help. We may begin to wonder if there is God, if we have a soul, what happens to us when we die, and why we are here. These questions are the first step on our way to eternal happiness.

God is an ocean of happiness and bliss. God is all love, all joy, all Light. That same love, Light, and joy is found in our soul. Thus, if we can experience our soul, we can experience this love, Light and joy, which is eternal. This happens through the process of meditation, wherein we identify with our true nature, our soul. Once we are conscious of ourselves as soul, we can then see and hear through the soul. We become aware of an inner Stream or Current of Light and Sound within us. We are then connected to a steady stream of bliss and love at all times.

While the pleasures of this earth are transitory, the bliss in the soul, in the Light and Sound Current, and in God, is lasting. We find a continual source of spiritual bliss and happiness within us through meditation. As we meditate, we start to realize that we are more than the body. We find that our soul has an existence separate from the body. We find that we are eternal. Knowing that we do not die, but that we go on to eternal lands of joy provides us with everlasting happiness.

Lasting Happiness

If we truly want a happiness that will not lead to pain and sorrow, we should seek that which is permanent. By contacting the inner Light and Sound and finding our way to God, we will find a happiness that is permanent. The pain and sorrow that awakened us to life’s temporary nature is the very pain and sorrow that will lead our footsteps to everlasting bliss.

Pain and suffering are an inevitable part of our spiritual journey. It may come as the catalyst for our spiritual life. It may occur along the way of our spiritual journey. It may come as a way to keep us focused on praying to God for help. It may serve as a reminder that the only true happiness is in that of the spirit.

Spiritual bliss is our conscious birthright. We can experience this blissful state of eternal happiness through the gift of meditation. Let us value and cherish this gift. Let us put in regular time for meditation daily so we too can experience everlasting happiness and bliss.