We do a lot of work in life and the aim at the end is only to be happy.
As a child, we go to school, study alphabet, numbers and nursery rhymes. From the kindergarten up to senior secondary schooling, the focus in each class is to work hard, study well, to get high marks.
Then in college too it is the same story. Good marks can get a good job and there too the striving is to earn more, climb high on the ladder to gain recognition, promotions and awards. The aim is all these will give happiness.
So to attain happiness is the ultimate goal. Even for a spiritual seeker, the goal is to attain integrity of mind. What happens with integrity if the mind is at peace?
When the mind is at peace, one is always happy. Joy is a thought experienced by the lone experiencer—you.
As long as there is joy, there will not be any trouble. Problem begins when there is sorrow coming in between.
The only way to be joyous all the time is to be aware that you are the one who experiences the joy and the sorrow.
The experiencer remains unchanged and is always in a blissful state.
However, until this truth is realised, the Moha Mudgara says people strive constantly.
They go to the Ganga for a holy dip or to the ocean where it merges. The idea is they do experience a cessation of mental restlessness at the end of a teertha yatra.
They observe penances and vows, not eating, drinking only water, not sleeping, standing on one leg and taking up hard practices with a view to integrating their mind.
If not this, they can take up social practices such as giving money and time in charity. The motive behind donations, if it is not to gain popularity, ultimately is to make one feel good to give for a cause. That feel-good factor is a temporary cessation of mental restlessness.
However, Sri Adi Shankaracharya Bhagavad Pada’s disciple Sri Subodha says all schools of thought are unanimous in saying that whatever we may undertake, without the knowledge of the self that we truly are, all activities give only a temporary respite. Mukti or freedom of mind cannot happen even for a hundred lifetimes.
The goal of action is to be free of compulsive action. Our happiness will always be dependent on our or others’ actions. Only in realisation that I am the nature of happiness itself can put an end to restless actions in pursuit of an elusive happiness. brni.sharanyachaitanya@gmail.com