Devotee: Mota, can you elaborate on the state of happiness?
Pujya Shree Mota: We cannot survive and work in this world without happiness. Happiness is necessary to live. Happiness is not a natural attribute but an acquired one. It can be developed. Everybody does not have that attribute although traces of it may be present naturally in some people. One must feel like " I want to develop happiness ". One must have that urge for happiness otherwise it does not work. Once developed it results in absence of ill feeling, jealousy and hurt. When it expresses in life it makes life worth living. It is of no use to talk about it. Only the person that lives in happiness knows about it. It is like being in heaven for the one who has this happiness for twenty four hours of the day.
How can this happiness be developed and expressed in life? We must think about the obstacles that come in the way. It becomes apparent that desire for sexual pleasure, anger, infatuation, jealously, pride and ego come in the way of happiness. One does get happiness from sexual pleasure, anger or other natural tendencies when it is satisfied. But soon it turns negative and leads to ignorance. It does not add any knowledge.
When flourishing state of happiness is established it always leads to higher development. We want the happiness but not of the negative kind. We want the happiness that leads us into higher planes and bliss. Presence of blissful happiness (અાનંદ) is the distinguishing characteristic of this kind of happiness. One with established state of happiness stays peaceful when confronted with problems, obstacles, troubles and complications in his life. His mind, intelligence, psyche, prana and ego are not disturbed and stays peaceful and helps to find the solution of the problem. It does not take long for him to determine the course of action. When the problem is solved in this manner he experiences the bliss and wonders about the manner in which the problem was solved.
Pujya Shree Mota
Joda-Jod
Edition 1; excerpts from pages 18 to 20.
Pujya Shree Mota: We cannot survive and work in this world without happiness. Happiness is necessary to live. Happiness is not a natural attribute but an acquired one. It can be developed. Everybody does not have that attribute although traces of it may be present naturally in some people. One must feel like " I want to develop happiness ". One must have that urge for happiness otherwise it does not work. Once developed it results in absence of ill feeling, jealousy and hurt. When it expresses in life it makes life worth living. It is of no use to talk about it. Only the person that lives in happiness knows about it. It is like being in heaven for the one who has this happiness for twenty four hours of the day.
How can this happiness be developed and expressed in life? We must think about the obstacles that come in the way. It becomes apparent that desire for sexual pleasure, anger, infatuation, jealously, pride and ego come in the way of happiness. One does get happiness from sexual pleasure, anger or other natural tendencies when it is satisfied. But soon it turns negative and leads to ignorance. It does not add any knowledge.
When flourishing state of happiness is established it always leads to higher development. We want the happiness but not of the negative kind. We want the happiness that leads us into higher planes and bliss. Presence of blissful happiness (અાનંદ) is the distinguishing characteristic of this kind of happiness. One with established state of happiness stays peaceful when confronted with problems, obstacles, troubles and complications in his life. His mind, intelligence, psyche, prana and ego are not disturbed and stays peaceful and helps to find the solution of the problem. It does not take long for him to determine the course of action. When the problem is solved in this manner he experiences the bliss and wonders about the manner in which the problem was solved.
Pujya Shree Mota
Joda-Jod
Edition 1; excerpts from pages 18 to 20.
