Happiness

"One thing IS, (and that is) happiness.  Happiness cannot be bought.  If you have a good car, you sit in it and drive it.  You don’t leave it sitting with a cover on it.  Walk over the entire United States, and see if you can find one shop where happiness is sold.  You cannot.  This is because happiness is one thing which can never be bought and which cannot be sold."

Happiness runs in a circular motion. Thought is like a little boat upon the sea. Everybody is a part of everything anyway.  You can have it all if you let yourself be. Why?  Oh, because.  – Donovan

"Now, this is the secret of happiness: This last line.  Why?  Oh, because.  That’s it.  That’s it.  Why?  Because.  Whatever you put out will come back to you.  I myself learned the secret of happiness from this song.  And I’m asking you, whenever you will fail to understand and practice this line, you shall be unhappy … Even Almighty God who created this earth cannot keep you happy." – Yogi Bhajan, August 21, 1988

We all know what 3HO means, right?  Healthy, Happy, Holy.  Well, healthy is healthy.  It’s a spectrum of wellness and you can measure yourself on it.  Everyone is holy.  We are sacred beings and we all have nine holes.  (Think about it.)  So all we have to do is be aware and in control of whatever comes into and out of our nine holes.  But what about happy?  That one seems a bit more elusive.

 Most people ride the emotional roller coaster from day to day.  I’m having a good (or bad) day.  I’m feeling happy (or sad.)  But actually, happiness lies beyond emotions – it’s much, much deeper than that.

Sometimes doing yoga makes you feel happy.  Sometimes doing sadhana makes you feel happy.  But sometimes it doesn’t.  Sometimes a lot of garbage or weirdness comes out in your meditation.  But actually, those meditations where you process your garbage are the best of all.  After all, that’s why we do sadhana – to clean our subconscious mind, balance our positive and negative minds and stimulate our neutral mind.

So what’s the secret formula to be a happy person?  To find that deep wellspring of happiness that lies beyond day-to-day emotions?  Well actually, it’s very simple.  … Pay attention now, ok?

How happy you are is inversely proportional to how much time you spend dwelling on your own predicament in life.

Go ahead, read it again … I’ll wait.

Yes, it’s that simple.  Serve others and forget about yourself.  The universe will take care of you.  You do not have to do it yourself.  Every little baby bird and every little bug under a rock has its food provided for it.  Why not you?  Just pay attention to what the moment is asking of you and then do it!  Care for others.

Serve others, and let yourself be served.  Only those who spend their lives serving are truly happy.

4 Responses to “Happiness”

1. Gurjeet Singh says:

   March 6, 2009 at 7:10 am

   Waheguru … but why does it seem like everyone is waiting in ambush to capture you or your materials or your goodness ? How shall one overcome this fear ? If the answer lies in being as cunning as the others or “keep going” then one will be worn and torn at the end of the day. Please simplify.

2. Guruka Singh says:

   March 8, 2009 at 12:13 am

   Guru Ji is holding his hand over your head. Know that. Know you are untouchable, and you shall be untouchable.

   …..G

3. Gurjeet Singh says:

   March 8, 2009 at 2:39 pm

   okay.

4. Gurjeet Singh says:

   April 4, 2009 at 5:14 am

   Kept that in mind … and I had a very bad encounter last night when I was coming back from work.

   I work late evening shifts for BP as a cashier and the time to close down is 10.00 PM. I boarded the bus and dropped off near the place where I live at 10.30 PM. Usually, I take a sort-cut because the foot path leads to a long and dark alley. The short cut leads me through a pub’s vicinity and is open and lighted and quick.

   Due to the recession many pubs in Britain closed down and this pub was hit by the recession as well but being Friday it was open. I was on my way home by the short cut and realized that it was not very wise to go by people who are drunk and almost everyone was drinking booze. So, I took another way walked twice the distance by the main street and suddenly there was a white guy who was coming from the opposite direction, probably going towards the pub. As soon as he passed me, he hit me on my neck and with the same swiping action he took my dastaar off. I grabbed my dastaar before my kesh could go hay-wired and kept it on my head again … turned around to see who it was.

   He kept swearing at me “Come you C**t … what would you do now you B***h” … I did not say a word and turned back. There were a couple of more people who saw what is happening but anyone barely uttered a word … of course they were drunk. I turned my back and as soon as I came home I dialed the police under emergency and explained what had happened.

   30 minuted passed and there was no sign of the police. I called them back again asking for them … I was told there were on their way. It took 45 minuted for the police to come as it was an ’emergency’ call. I was still sitting there with my uniform on … with dastaar in my hands … and saw a light from the window and greeted the two police men.

   The same story repeats…

   Police: … we apologize to be so late … what exactly happened ? ….

   Me: telling them how it happened and described it by enacting the situation exactly.

   Police: When did it happen ?

   Me: 45 minutes ago …

   Police: … Oh … its too late … he must have gone by now … can you describe him …

   Me: to my surprise I described a person who looks like any other walking on the streets … the bloody, all look the same.

   ….” But Sir, how would you find him as his looks were so common ?”

   Police : We will try … we would go around the pub (with several people outside drinking) … an may be we find him.

   Me and my two other room mates (one of them is a Sikh-Amrithdhari) summarized several occasions where we were abused verbally and last night there was an assault physically… and again the police is helpless.

   Police: What would you like us to do ?

   Me: I told them that I am used to being abused verbally even while serving the people in the store … I have called police whenever someone threatened me … “Lets see how you reach home tonight” … when I am still in the shop. I have to hop two buses in the night and to my surprise it is the same story near to where I live.

   “I am not a small child that if you show me a pop-sickle then I ‘would do what you want me to … you are the police … do what you see appropriate.. ”

   Police: Yes we understand, because it takes two hours of paperwork and then as we know that getting hold of the person you described seems impossible.

   Me: I know sir, I have been told the same thing by your colleagues … I have heard this before. Encounters like these are getting a step closer … first verbal abuse and now a physical assault. I don’t know … you do what you find appropriate.

   Then after some more discussions they did as they proposed to take some rounds in the vicinity and at around 12.59 AM I got a call from the officer telling me that they couldn’t find the person (Tell me about it) and would call me again after an hour to give me a complaint-log number.

   They did not call back. The whole night I couldn’t sleep. Since a month, I was busy writing a dissertation and met the dead-line and booked a day off on 4th April for a children camp in Wolverhampton … and I didn’t go. Sleepless nights and then such encounters … do I deserve it … and Waheguru tells me yes you do. You deserve all that I give you, it would be a shame that you have not had a single experience like this one throughout your stay in the UK ! what a shame it would have been. And I take it this way … I was supposed to show calm and respect even in that situation. I did so. Am I happy ? … I don’t know but I do think that it was meant to happen. To be ripped off by some stranger … to be hit by a hand and getting dirty with words he showered me with. I do deserve it all, I am a Sikh … still learning.