6. Sri J.M.Sarma

Dear Respected Pujya Sir, Brothers and Sisters,

My humble Pranams to all of you.

By the grace of the Master, we have all assembled here for this seminar.

The sentence of the Master “Happiest man is he who is happy under all circumstances” taken for the seminar is a part of the message given by Him on the Eve of Ashram inauguration at Shahjahanpur in January 1976

(Message - Love Universal, SDG October 2006 edition, Page-126).

I would like to express my sincere thanks for providing me this opportunity to express Master and share His thoughts.

I have taken most of these views and points from our Master’s books and I tried to express my understanding about this Master’s saying.

I feel there is lot of importance to the word ‘Happiness’ in spiritual life. Master says in the same message that ‘It is a hidden dictum of Nature that every soul must live a happy and restful life. If we do otherwise, we are spoiling His world’. Here what I understand is, we are all children of God and God wants His children to be happy in all circumstances. If we are not, we will be spoiling His world. So, how to be Happy in all circumstances and whether it is possible? I feel it is possible and I would like to place before you following with your kind permission.

(1) We should be happy with whatever we have. Always we should have firm will to be happy in all circumstances. Here, I would like to quote Pujya Sir’s comments that is

‘The main question in life is "do we really want to be happy?" Do we will for the same with determination and conviction? I strongly believe the feeling of Santushti or being satisfied with what we have is the first step in becoming happy. This is the secret of happiness. If this is not there any amount of comfort or riches or fame will not give happiness. Real Santushti feeling is a by product of the awareness of transitoriness of things and events in life. There is every reason to look into our images in the mirror every day and feel happy at being what we are. We should note however that our image has been changing and we have always been happy at it. This is possible only when we Will to be happy.

(Bodhyanti Parasparam – Volume III, Page-324)

So we should always have positive attitude towards life which is God given gift.

Here I remember our Pujya Sir comments that, “It is important to eliminate negative thinking and create a positive thinking pattern in spirituality. We should understand the value of being happy under all circumstances. Nitya santushti is a necessary attitude for spiritual progress”.

(Bodhyanti Parasparam – Volume III, Page-152)

We should live in present and not worry about past or future. This does not mean we should sit idle. We are all expressions of God and are entrusted with responsibilities. We should fulfil our responsibilities like a trustee of God.

Our Pujya Sir says, “There is no point in getting disappointed if we do not get what we want in life. We should always be in the state of mind of submissiveness to the Master and accept whatever comes to us happily and not insist to have what we want. It does not mean that we should not try. We should try and our efforts should be total the result is the will of God/Master”.

(Three truths – Trillion doubts, Page-185)

(2) Some times we encounter with unhappy circumstances. We should try to analyse them. I feel these are created by us as we expect results the way we want. We are unhappy when the results of our expectations are not met fully. Even if they are fulfilled up to some extent, still we feel unhappy for remaining part. These expectations of results are our own creations. We can live happily in all circumstances if we leave the result to Master after our sincere effort in performing the task.

(3) We feel happy when we have total acceptance that God is only doing everything and he owns everything. Here again trusteeship comes. How to become aware of this trusteeship? Here I would like to quote Pujya Sir’s comments that is

‘God is every where. You agree that God is all happiness. Then happiness alone is every where. All is His and we can enjoy as much as we want but we cannot possess any. The cool breeze near the bay, the pleasant wind near the mountains, the fresh air from the gardens are all only AIR- they appear to possess some qualities because of the situation in which they are placed. We are trustees of God and God, you should have noted by now trusted your body, also which is His only. There is no question of giving up anything. What can you give up when you own nothing and it is only a duty of a trustee you have?

(Three truths – Trillion doubts, Page 259)

Our Pujya Sir also says, ‘Nothing here belongs to us and also by adhering to the philosophy that is advocated by our Master to treat every one and every task for us as those entrusted to us by the Divine as a trustee.

(Bodhyanti Parasparam – Volume IV, Page-133)

(4) In the message taken for the seminar, Master also says, ‘We should live a life like the coot and the ducks in the water, which when they are out of water, have no effect of water on their wings. Similarly, we should love our parents and everybody in the family without being soiled by attachment’. Here I understand that, we should not shy away from the responsibilities of grahasta and live aloof. We have to do our duties as entrusted by Him, but we should not have any undue attachment with any one. Master also emphasises in the same message that ‘Detachment in attachment is really needed’. So there is lot of emphasis given to the word attachment. We should be attached up to the extent as required to fulfil our duties.

(5) Master also says in the same message that ‘God has created the world so that every flower may grow in its right standard. But the lashes of time have made it to forget the purpose of God. So, some feel the life as the purpose of enjoyment, others feel the life monotonous. But the question is; what is life? It is a state of being which should remain permanently, as long as we live, thoroughly in contact with the Being, smelling at each step the fragrance of the Being’.

Here I would like to quote Pujya Sir’s comments that, “Life is a complex game. Play it with confidence in yourself, and the Master and adopt the ways of the Master. One thing in life we should note is fear is not justified in any circumstance. We are God in expression what fear have we got? Fear arises out of lack of confidence in God. The goal of life is happiness only and we can get it in full measure when we are totally in tune with the Master/God. Goal clarity would develop as you practice and exposures to Pranahuti would remind you of the Homeland”.

(Three truths – Trillion doubts, Page 181)

So there is no question of unhappiness in our life as long as we understand the purpose of God. Our life has to be only with Master and we should live for Him. Even in our day to day life, we might have observed that mere thought of Master makes us happy in whatever circumstances we are. Remembrance of Master and expression of Him in all our walks of life will make us to live happy in all circumstances.

(6) Further by following Master’s commandments we can live happily in all situations. Let me share with you my understanding.

If we take fifth commandment, where Master says, ‘Be truthful. Take miseries as Divine blessings for your own good and be thankful’. I understand from the commandment that we should have total dependency on God and accept everything given by Him as Divine blessing for our own good and be thankful. Here I remember our Pujya Dr.K.C.Varadachari garu’s saying about God as our loving teacher that is “The lessons in life are taught by the Lord very systematically. He loves us so much that every opportunity is provided for us to grow. When we ask for strength, He provides us difficulties to make us strong; when we ask for prosperity, He gives us the brain and brawn to work; when we ask for courage, He causes danger to overcome; when we ask for love, He sends us troubled people to help; when we ask for wisdom, He gives problems to solve. The way of instruction of the Lord is difficult to understand but when we understand the joy of awareness of His love has no bounds. The lesson of truth that we learn is very great and what a loving teacher we have!”. Here my understanding is, when we get difficulties, we feel unhappy, where as God provides us difficulties to make us strong. Also we become unhappy when we are unable to overcome dangers, where as God causes dangers to overcome for our courage. Again when we are with troubled people we feel unhappy, where as God sends us troubled people to help for developing love. Finally we also become unhappy when we have problems, where as God gives problems to solve for our wisdom. So if we understand His teachings and depend on Him totally, we can live happily in all circumstances.

Coming to sixth commandment, where Master says ‘Know all people as thy brethren and treat them as such’. Here what I understand is, we will be happy only when all others around us are happy. So when we understand that every body has come from same source and all are brethren, we live happily with all and also make them happy. Here I feel that we should do meditation on Point ‘A’ and 9 PM prayer regularly.

Our Pujya Sir says that, “Except fortitude and forbearance, no other attitude is likely to yield happy state of mind. All are our brothers and sisters and it is only social convention that makes us have different relationships and except love no other relationship like hatred has any place in happy life. Make a definite resolution to reject negative feelings to any person”.

(Three truths – Trillion doubts, Page-222)

Finally in eighth commandment, where Master says, ‘Be happy to eat in constant Divine thought whatever you get, with due regard to honest and pious earnings’. Here what I feel is, we should be happy for whatever given by Master. If we try to understand why we should be happy I remember Master’s saying, ‘A happy disposition is a state which may aptly be taken as that next to the Divine’.

Our Pujya Sir says that ‘There is no activity in this world where Divine is not in play. The warp is the Divine and the woof are you and me. The goal is to gain happiness by knowing the inter relationship with the Divine in all aspects of life’.

Further, Pujya Sir says that ‘Happiness is a disposition. It is to be cultivated deliberately. This is achieved by remembering the presence of the Master in our heart’.

(Three truths – Trillion doubts, Page 223)

Finally before concluding I would like to place before you that, we are all very fortunate to be in the system bestowed by Pujya Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj where we get continuous support of the Master through Pranahuti. We are all enjoying the feeling of Happiness expressed as Peace, Joy, Blissful, Contentment, Ecstasy, Good, Pleasant, Satisfaction, Serenity etc., by the influx of Pranahuti. Even our Institute one of the goals is ‘Happiness to one and all’.

(From website www.sriramchandra.org)

Once again, thank you for providing me this opportunity to express Master and His thoughts along with my understanding. I humbly request all of you to kindly pardon me for any mistakes.

My humble Pranams to all.