Where Our Happiness Lies

Master’s presence, physical or otherwise, always seems to bring the truth back into focus. He helps us see where we are and where we would like to be. It seems that in his presence the seeds of change are planted in our hearts. The pressures of life fall away. We feel our spiritual desires are within our reach, and we want to make the effort to try and improve ourselves.

Most of us yearn deeply for a sense of peace in our lives, a sense of purpose – we want to love and be loved – because otherwise the suffering is endless and senseless. In Master’s company we find that peace, that love which satisfies us, but unfortunately we cannot always be physically with him. So in a way we are always seeking, consciously or otherwise, for the spiritual love he radiates. And although we might prefer it otherwise, we can only find what we are looking for inside.

Meditation brings clarity and peace into our lives. But often our preoccupation with all that is going on in our lives keeps us away from it. So it seems we have to consciously cultivate our relationship with him, by doing all the things that make us feel close to him. Experience shows us that keeping a positive attitude and being loving and kind to everyone around us helps us to tune in to him – helps us create the kind of atmosphere that makes it easier to meditate.

At times in meditation we have painful realizations about ourselves: we see our weaker side for what it is. We have all done things we regret. What better way to ask for forgiveness than to turn to the spirit within without trying to hide from our shortcomings? What better way to remove our negative habits than to present them to the source of all that is positive? Sometimes we can feel we are being washed clean, that the tension and guilt are being lifted.

Whenever we direct our thoughts and love towards him, don’t all our troubles fall into perspective and begin to fade away? And positive qualities gradually replace the ones that are troubling us?

Master is extremely loving. He is more eager for us to succeed than we can imagine. He wishes us the greatest possible happiness from this practice and is always offering his help. Our bond with the Master underlies our entire lives. Even in the most difficult circumstances, in the most troubled times, the underlying bond is not broken. The desire for spirituality was his gift, and he will never remove it. At times it may seem to be forgotten due to circumstances of our life, but it is not gone.

Surely this is not a path of rules and recrimination; it is a way of ever-increasing love. Baba Ji encourages us to do the best for ourselves, to do what will make us really happy. He wants us to feel positive about ourselves, rather than feeling guilty and depressed, and worrying about our failed obligations. So why not go where our happiness lies. As Maharaj Charan Singh says in Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III, “Real happiness is only in meditation, nowhere else.”

Leaving everything else aside, one must implicitly obey the Satguru of his own time, and faithfully follow his instructions. This will lead him to success. This is the long and short of everything.
_{Soami Ji, Sar Bachan Prose}