Real Happiness

Q. Master, how can we be happy in this world and keep our balance when meditation is dry sometimes, and also our mind is not getting what it wants in the world anymore?

A. Sister, actually we can only be happy when our soul is in love or in devotion with the Father, because the inclination of the soul is always towards its own origin, towards its own source. The more we keep the soul away from its source, from its destination, from the Lord, the more unhappy it remains. The more we are nearer on the path, towards our home, the more joy and bliss we feel within.

There is no pleasure or happiness in the outside worldly objects or worldly achievements. They are all short-lived, temporary, transitory, because there is always danger of losing those things. If you have money which gives you pleasure, there is always a danger in your mind of losing that money. If you have a lovely wife or a lovely husband, there’s always the fear of losing him or her. When that fear is in our mind there is always pain and misery, even at the base of these so-called pleasures. So that is no pleasure at all.

Real happiness and pleasure is only to be in love and devotion for the Father, to develop that. The more you build that within yourself, the more happy you will become. Meditation no doubt is dry to begin with, because for ages our mind has been in the habit of running outside towards the senses, towards the worldly objects, towards the worldly achievements. And we are so interlinked with each other, so much attached to each other, that naturally it is not so easy to withdraw the mind from all that and attach it to the Shabd and Nam within. Naturally it requires a great effort to do it, and meditation to begin with is definitely dry - but it is worth achieving.

Q. Maharaj Ji, when I give in to feelings of emptiness and hopelessness, does the Master still help me at those times?

A. Well, brother, in the morning when the sun rises, it is there for the whole day. But sometimes thick clouds come and we cannot make use of the light of that sun. It does not mean that the sun is not there - it is just behind the clouds.

So we should not despair. The Lord’s grace is within every one of us, but due to our karmas, sometimes thick clouds come within us and we feel that emptiness, that void within ourselves. Not finding anything within and not being attached to anything outside, we feel that void, but that should not cause us to despair at all. That is for our own good, our own advantage. We know the reality of this world, we know our real self, so we try to find the reality. This should help us to attend more to meditation, to overcome that void and emptiness. The sun is always there. His grace is always there - there is no question of emptiness. Our cup is upside down. His grace is always flowing, so we should try to turn our cup into a position to receive his grace. Our mind is scattered outside. It runs to the senses, it runs to the whole universe through the nine apertures. We should try to withdraw the mind and hold it at the eye centre and make our cup receptive to his grace, to receive that nectar within and to overcome that void and emptiness.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II}