Bliss is your birth right

The need for a company has become one of the basic needs of people in today’s times. The list of so-called fundamental needs such as food, shelter, water, health and education, is no more the end of it. There are many people in the world who have most of these listed fundamental needs, yet they are so miserable in life, because they lack mental and emotional health. They crave for approval and acceptance from others; they in search of social groups and friendship; they long for love and recognition. Left alone to be with themselves, they go crazy.

If a person cannot experience the sweetness of solitude and enjoy his own company, how would he be a good company for others to enjoy? This is the question that everyone who suffers in solitude must ask himself. The answer to this is given in the upanisads, where it explains that people have forgotten their real beautiful self, and hence they suffer. If only you know that you are the very embodiment of eternal existence (nitya) which is pure (śuddha), enlightened (buddha), liberated (mukta), and blemishless (nirmala), would you ever search for external validation?

The men of wisdom who have known this truth by experiencing it for themselves are known as vedānta kesaris. The upanisads elucidates the characteristics of such a person as:

• na bibheti kadācaneti – he is not afraid ever

• na bibheti kutaścaneti – he is not afraid of anything, regardless of the nature of the stimuli

• na śocati – he is not worried about anything

• na kānkśati – he does not crave or desire for anything

• na dvesti – he does not hate anyone and get depressed

• na hrisyati – he does not feel elated or excited for anything

There is one word to describe the state of such individuals—sthita-prajña, meaning steady and equanimous. External circumstances do not disturb them. The greatest benefit of such a stable state is that it enables them to perform efficiently and excellently in any task they undertake. They remain in a constant state of joy—one that doesn’t fluctuate, but deepens and grows.

As the Upanisads declare: ānando brahmeti vyajānāt—Bliss is Brahman. These realized beings are immersed in an ocean of eternal bliss. This supreme joy, once attained, becomes permanent. Therefore, the true nature of every being is bliss. If there is one thing in the world that truly belongs to you, it is ānanda—bliss. Reclaim your right to this inner wealth, and delight in the realization that the joy you are seeking is none other than yourself.

(The writer is a founder of Sri Madhusudan Sai Global Humanitarian Mission)