Parameters for happiness

It is curious, is it not, that the majority of people in the world seek happiness and yet they only seem to experience it in small bursts of transient moments. When those moments pass, the search is on again, and often at great expense. To be truly happy, we have to understand what happiness is really based on.

Its roots lie deep within the individual consciousness, and it is based on knowledge, or the understanding of reality. The knowledge of the true, subtle, spiritual self. The understanding of the immutable law of cause and effect. The nature and form of the Supreme Being and the great epochs of the cycle of time, and their exact duration. When these truths are contemplated, they lead from one state of mind to another, each bringing a new and fulfilling experience until the highest spiritual experience of happiness is reached. Unhappiness, depression, stress, fear are all the result of a lack of the understanding of spiritual knowledge.

It is a domino effect of experience. Spiritual knowledge leads to an inner experience of wonder, which leads to accumulated wisdom, which leads to clear discrimination, which leads to accurate judgement, which leads to correct action, which leads to the acquisition of a virtuous nature, which leads to pure and benevolent thinking, which leads to lightness of being, which leads to happiness.

Happiness must begin with understanding what is. Understanding is the beginning but contemplating each truth requires its practical application in our lives and in our interactions with others. Holding knowledge only in the head is like understanding how to make a cake, but if the theory stays in the head, there will be no cake. It is applied truth that begins to activate the true consciousness of the self. To understand that I am a soul is only the first step in the process of simply becoming, of being. This process can be achieved in a very natural way when the consciousness is linked to that of the Supreme Being, in meditation. Delving into spiritual knowledge is moving into the sphere of true freedom, where pure activity, at the level of thoughts, words, and actions brings a lightness of being – and that is the platform for real happiness to emerge.

Jim Ryan has a background in education. He is an author and a Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga teacher, based at the Global Retreat Centre, Oxford, UK.