Happiness

HAPPINESS

Meher Baba

Be mentally free and happy. As is the cause, so is the effect. The cause may be big and important, or small and insignificant. But the result will definitely be according to the cause.

The woes of this world are imaginary, and are the self-created result of our own ignorance. Having no cause, they are therefore unjustifiable. If there is no reason or cause, then it naturally follows that the result is unreal, insubstantial and meaningless.

So why worry about the happiness or misery of this world, which has no cause behind it except imagination? Just go on observing things as a passive spectator as they go on around you, keeping the mind free and happy. As Hafez says,

'Both the happiness and sorrows of this world will pass away,

so it is better to always remain peaceful."'

Meher Baba,
October 1922,
Bombay,
LM2 p439-440

"If you realised but a particle of that knowledge which I know, you would experience inexpressible bliss. Every object would impart happiness to you. Every object would tell you its part in the story of knowledge, and all the misery that's in the world would shine forth as heaven."

Meher Baba,
May? 1924,
Happy Valley,
SW p204

A man who came to meet Meher Baba said he was addicted to drugs.

Baba: Are you happy?

Man: No, very, very miserable.

Baba: Try to be always happy. Never think that life is dreadful, 'I am tired of life.' Such thoughts really make life miserable. Life is worth living. If you think like that, all difficulties will appear insignificant.

I will help you to try to develop love. Never think, 'I am alone,' 'I have so much to do,' 'I am poor,' and so on. All are poor. The whole world is poor. Even the millionaires are poor, because they have greed and want more. Love someone, and I will help you.* Do not worry. My blessings.

1930s, Europe? A p2
Another version: PM p249

*In another version of this interview, Baba is quoted as saying (on the alphabet board):
"Love someone, and you will be rich."
(PM p249)

Q. Oh, I am so happy to see you... I am so tired of life, and very unhappy... don't see how I can improve.

Baba: Everyone is unconsciously tired of this life, because everyone seeks happiness, but knows not how to get it. But life is so beautiful. It is meant to be happy.

I will help you. Then things will appear changed. You will see it.

It is always the outlook that counts, and not the object. Today you feel tired, upset, seeing nothing beautiful in things round you in life. If tomorrow you do not feel bored but cheerful, in the same things that appeared so black to you yesterday... it is all due to changed mentality and outlook.

The easy way is not to make much of things. Take them lightly. Say to yourself,

I am meant to be happy, to make others happy.

And gradually you do become happy yourself, and make others too. Don't suggest to your mind, 'I am tired, haggard, depressed.' That will make you feel worse. Always say,

All is well and beautiful. I will be happy.

I will help you spiritually. I can and I will. You will feel it.

1930s, Europe? A p13

Q. How can I have happiness?

Baba: Everyone in the world, consciously or unconsciously, seeks happiness in one form or another. You seek it now in your own way. Even a murderer seeks happiness, which he hopes to find in the very act of murder, and that is why he commits it.

Why or when does a man commit murder? Either through hatred or jealousy. And because he thinks he will find happiness if he commits murder, and takes his revenge for hatred or jealousy.

Again, why does a man commit suicide? Because he expects to find happiness in it.

Why does a man drink? Because of the happiness he expects to derive from the drink. But what happiness does he derive (from the drink) and how long does it last? Only as long as the effect of the intoxication lasts. No sooner it cools down, he feels broken, dejected and miserable. It is the same case with lust and lusty actions. One does it all for the happiness one derives, even for a moment.

But it is all for the time being that one derives happiness from one action or another, and when it is over, he is miserable again. Real happiness is quite different. It never changes nor ceases. It is permanent, everlasting, and it lies there, there within you. It is sleeping - latent, and must be opened - unlocked. Once it is opened, it is always happiness.

I am the source of happiness, the sun of all bliss. But there is a cover, a curtain, that veils you from the sun, and you do not see it. Now, because of your inability to see owing to a curtain, you cannot say there is no sun. The sun is there, shining and spreading its lustre all over the world. But you do not allow its rays to approach you, obstructing them with the veil of ignorance. Remove that, and you will see the sun.

I will help you to tear open the curtain, and enable you to find happiness within. I love you. I love all.

Part of an interview,
1930s, Europe?
A p30-31

Everything that people do in the world is done to obtain happiness. People seek power to derive happiness. They strive after money wishing to find happiness through possessions. This is all right when money is used rightly, but it leads to misery and unhappiness when bad use is made of it.

Science also seeks to promote happiness. Inventions are made for the happiness of others, and can be so, if used rightly. But when used for the wrong purposes, they lead only to greater unhappiness and misery. For example, if airplanes are put to use for war, they bring death and destruction.

So what matters is happiness, since everybody seeks to be happy. When we gain God, permanent happiness is gained. Happiness based on self-forgetfulness alone leads to permanent happiness - to God. When one loses the self in making others happy, one attains real happiness, which is God. All other forms of happiness are fleeting and changeable.

This real happiness must be very strong to enable one to support all the suffering that comes to one, or like that which I have to bear.

24 July 1938,
Ahmednagar,
LM7 p2297

Infinite bliss is bliss eternal and continual, and because it is perpetual, it is without any opposite aspects. Happiness, on the other hand, although linked with infinite bliss, is not perpetual, and therefore it has an opposite aspect of misery.

1960s? India?
Echoes: A Meher Baba Reader
(1969) ed.
Naosherwan Anzar, p11

Index - Book One