We all seek happiness. But our mistake is that we think things outside ourselves can give us happiness. This is what the sage Ramana Maharshi had to say about this:
“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.”
When we start looking inside we find that we are much more than our ego. This realization brings tremendous joy, wisdom, and power to our lives, as Lao Tzu explains:
“Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.”
So how do we condition our mind to go deeper and find the deeper Self outside the ego? Here are the words of the Sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras (I-33) that show us the way:
“Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.”
When we get established in this state, our mind expands into divine love and the light of God flows in. There is expansion and joy in this state as Swami Vivekananda explains:
“All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction.
Love is therefore the only law of life.
He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying.
Therefore love for love’s sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.”
Related: The Scorpion And The Saint
Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.