Whatever you do now or that which you have planned in the future is simply for one thing : you want to feel happy. Now happiness is an enduring state of the mind and body where you simply feel good. The emotion that comes out of this state is Joy. Of course, you want to be joyful all the time. But emotions do not last forever. Feelings do. Happiness does, joy does not. To feel in a constant state of happiness always, means a lot of work. We have to get rid of our negativity that is buried deep inside. Embrace all that is positive and keep negative things away from you. Actually speaking in absolute terms, there are no negatives. Either something does not exist (zero) or it does (positive). While this may be true, there are some emotions and feelings that we don’t feel good about. We need to address them instead of avoiding them before they become chronic in nature.
In fact, deep down all we are doing is attaching meaning to symbols. These when done in a repetitive fashion leads to deep rooted feelings. Imagine a lion in front of you. Now imagine a deer in front of you. Both lead to a different emotional response. While the first may trigger a sense of fear, the latter may evoke a sense of joyfulness. How we respond to events creates different emotions within us, but mind you, these are temporary. They come and go. However, feelings are more permanent in nature. They are attached to our fabric of life – by that I mean our outlook on life. Our beliefs – cultural, ethnic, political and so on. Our state of mind reflects this always. Have you noticed that some people are always happy and some are downright miserable. This are the feelings that are deep down. Difficult to change, but not impossible.
Now coming back to the question of why people do what they do. Well, think of a parent seeing her baby in danger. While she may spank the baby for a wrongdoing, her love for the baby is eternal. Temporarily it manifests as a emotion called anger. While this may seem to label love as a feeling, it’s beyond that. Love simply transcends emotions and feelings. Love is not just within us, it’s found everywhere. In our absence also, it exists. It’s kind-of-hard to define what love is, but it seems to be universal. While we may mistake happiness (A feeling) and joy (An emotion) with love, they are simply a form of Love that manifests within ourselves. It may be true that ‘Love makes the world go around’. In this search of the self, finally we all stumble upon the same thing – Love.
Why do you think you are reading this article ? It’s not for the understanding, but for the temporary emotion that it evokes in you – joy , disgust or whatever. Or maybe it resonates with your feelings and gives you happiness. Whatever may be the case, the fact is that it is not knowledge that you are looking for but the feeling that it can give you. Because deep down, feelings are tied to our sense of identity – our systems of rights and wrongs. Something’s just feel the way they do, because that is what we have been believing in. In the yogic system, the mind or the buddhi is the first layer (of the four) through which we perceive. This is through our coloured lenses (called values and beliefs). Internalize one more learning into your beliefs and you got one more coloured lens. True perception is when the mind disassociates with memory and sees things as they are. This part of our mind is called chitta. It’s an awakened being who can see the world through this layer of the mind. Because if you do, feelings and thoughts won’t distract you, as all objects that the mind perceives are nothing but the manifestation of God. And you are seeing truth, as truth was designed to be. In short, your search has come to an end. You are baby steps away from Mukti (true Freedom).
Wish you the best,
Guru30
