Happiness 2

HAPPINESS

Book Two

... Baba sent for some chocolates from the bazaar. Distributing a few to each of us, he asked if we liked the taste of it. With the exception of Arjun, all replied in the affirmative. After some five minutes, Baba asked us if the taste of the chocolate that we enjoyed just a few minutes ago was still there. On getting an unanimous reply in the negative, he said,

"When a good thing is given to it, the mind is pleased, but soon after settles down to its original state. If some bitter medicine or a purgative, like epsom salts and castor oil, is forced upon it, the same mind revolts. But again, after a short while, it reverts to its normal state. This proves that both the pleasures and pains of this world are so very ephemeral and short-lived.

"Just now, you ate the chocolates with a sense of enjoyment, but immediately after, the same enjoyment and taste has become a thing of the past, since no result thereof has remained. Such is the case with all the earthly pleasures and pains. The highest kind of enjoyment or pleasurable sensation in this world is sexual intercourse. But how long does it last? Only a few minutes.

"Now this, the highest of all the material pleasures, can well be compared with the real happiness as if the former were a shadow of a drop from the infinite ocean of eternal happiness, which when once realised is felt and enjoyed every second forever! From this comparison, you can imagine the hollowness of the world and its pleasures."

Ramjoo Abdulla, 12 October 1922,
Bombay, RD p104-105
Another version: LM2 p439

"All Baba asked from each was a happy face and work done cheerfully. To Baba, this cheerfulness was a goal most worth striving for, a goal of paramount importance. Baba told us,

" 'If you don't want to be old before you really ought to be old, be cheerful in thought, word, deed and appearance -- most of all in appearance.

Maybe you are not happy inside, perhaps gas in your stomach. But you must look happy. I always find half of you garlic-faced. When you eat garlic, it is a smell passed on to all. So when you appear garlic-faced, that too is contagious.

It is a divine art to always look cheerful, it is a divine quality. It helps others. When you are garlic-faced, it makes others unhappy.'

"Baba emphasized that no one must expect to get happiness from others, but to be happy in oneself."

Kitty Davy (late 1930s?) LA p239

Also see the chapters 'The Conditions of Happiness' in Discourses.

Happiness Book One

Index - Book Two