Man in Search of Happiness *

Swami Paratparananda**

*Article published by the “Vedanta for East and West” magazine - issue 159
** Swami Paratparananda was the Editor of Vedanta Kesari magazine (1962-1967)

Desire for happiness is innate in all beings. Man is no exception to

the rule. If we analyse well our actions we will find that moved by this
desire we acquire certain objects and avoid certain others, become
intimate with some persons and eschew the company of certain others; in
short, we avoid things disagreeable and seek pleasant ones with the idea
of attaining happiness. This search for happiness has been the motive
power behind all man's efforts, as much in the field temporal as in the
spiritual. All his discoveries in the realm of science are with this end in
view. If, today, man is anxious to get supremacy over the natural forces
and subjugate them to serve his needs, it is for this purpose alone. If, in
the past or even in the present, some few give up the path trodden by the
vast majority of mankind, and avoid mundane pursuits, and retire to a
forest or withdraw into themselves, that also is because of their search for
eternal happiness.
But the idea of happiness differs according to the taste and the
inner development of each individual. The majority of mankind is satisfied
with or finds happiness in the gratification of the senses. This world, with
its gross objects, is all that they are interested in. In the 'Katha
Upanishad', Yama describes very aptly the mentality of such people:
"Living in the midst of transient objects, these ignorant people,
considering themselves wise and of firm resolution, go round and round,
just as the blind led by the blind. To the erring and the intoxicated with
wealth the hereafter is imperceptible; thinking that this world is all that
exists, they again and again come under my sway." 1 Such people
surround themselves with objects that are pleasant but impermanent; yet
they believe these things to be everlasting and changeless. And the very
fact that they have been able to possess them, engenders in their mind a
high opinion of themselves as capable and wise persons. Thus drunk with
the wine of wealth and power they wander about in this world with no
other higher end in view. To such people, who judge everything by their
sense perceptions, the hereafter is a myth, since it cannot be grasped by
the senses. So, believing that this is the only world that they are sure of,
they immerse themselves in pleasures, acquire what they can and, as a
result, they are dragged again and again here.
Sri Ramakrishna divides men into four types, viz., the bound, the

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seekers after liberation, the liberated and the ever-free. He illustrates this
division by an example: "Suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch
fish. Some fish are so clever that they are never caught in the net. They
are like the ever-free. But most of the fish are entangled in the net. Some
of them try to free themselves from it, and they are like those who seek
liberation. But not all the fish that struggle succeed. A few do jump out of
the net, making a big splash in the water. Then the fisherman shout,
'Look! There goes a big one!' But most of the fish caught in the net
cannot escape, nor do they make any effort to get out. On the contrary,
they burrow into the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there
quietly, thinking, 'We need not fear any more; we are quite safe here.'
But the poor things do not know that the fisherman will drag them out
with the net. These are like the men bound to the world." 2
Again, speaking about happiness, Sri Ramakrishna said that there
were three types—vishayananda, pleasure one gets in the satisfaction of
the senses; bhajanananda, happiness one derives out of the spiritual
practices, and brahmananda, the bliss that one attains on realization of
Brahman or God. The last one cannot be measured or compared to any
other happiness; it cannot even be imagined. The Upanishads have tried
to give an inkling of its vastness in various ways. For example, in the
'Taittirya' we come across a passage where the happiness of the different
types of beings, beginning from man to Brahma, the Creator, is described
and compared. Then it goes on to state that even the bliss of the Creator
is nothing compared to that which one gets on realizing Brahman. In
another Upanishad we read that the whole creation is sustained by an
infinitesimal fraction of this bliss, matrena upajivanti. Now the question
arises: "If this were so, why does man, an intelligent being, a being
endowed with the faculty of thinking and discriminating, run after the
petty and worthless things of the world neglecting such a mine of bliss
which is his birthright?" There are two answers to this question: (1) that
many do not know about the existence of such a kind of bliss and as such
do not seek it; and (2) that many though aware of its existence find it
difficult to overcome the pull of the outward going senses.
The 'Katha Upanishad' beautifully describes this: "The Self-existing
Lord harmed the senses creating them with the tendency to go outward;
therefore they perceive only the objects outside and not the Atman which
dwells inside. But one of steady mind and firm determination perceives
the dwelling Atman by turning away the eyes with the object of attaining
Immortality." 3 Here the eyes represent all the other senses also. It is only
when the senses are turned away from their objects that the mind can fix
itself on the Self. What happens otherwise is stated in the next verse of
the same Upanishad. "Men of little intelligence impelled by their desires
fall in the snares of wide-spread death." 4 That is to say, they repeatedly
become subject to birth, disease, old age and death. So a discriminating
person does not see any happiness in sense contacts. He perceives the
momentariness of them all and the thirst they create in him for more and

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more enjoyment. Also, he finds that there is no real happiness in them.
The taste of a delicious dish is no more felt when that morsel leaves the
tongue, thus demonstrating the transitoriness of the sense pleasures.
Therefore, persons of discrimination do not pray for anything here in this
world of impermanent things.
But what great pains and afflictions one has got to undergo to
acquire even these perishable and changing things! There is a Sanskrit
verse which depicts how wretched becomes the life of a person given to
infatuation of wealth: "It is with great pains that one earns money, more
painful still is the labour and anxiety in preserving what is earned, and
still more miserable one feels when one has to spend what one has
accumulated. Fie on such wealth which is the source of misery." It may be
asked: "How can we live if we do not earn money?" What is depreciated
here is not money itself but an inordinate attachment to it, which makes
man its slave. The lure of wealth is such that one gets lost in its pursuit
and the more one possesses, the more one hankers; and to acquire it one
stoops to any means with the result that one loses all human feelings in
its mad pursuit.
Now, do we really enjoy the pleasures? Bhartrihari in his
'Vairagyashatakam' says: "We did not enjoy the pleasures, on the
contrary, we ourselves were eaten up in the process." 5 That is to say, in
the endless anxiety in seeking these pleasures our energy itself gets
sapped and we are left only with the hankerings for them without the
strength to enjoy. Thus mocked, as it were, we suffer more than we could
enjoy in seeking the pleasures of the senses. Sri Krishna says in the
'Bhagavad Gita': "Whatsoever enjoyment is produced out of contact with
the outside world is only a source of misery. It has a beginning and an
end, therefore a wise man, oh son of Kunti, does not revel in it." 6 But
such is the veiling power of the Great Illusion, that people forget their
difficulties and sufferings and run after the very same pleasures which
they have proved a hundred times to be insubstantial, pain-giving and
deceptive. Sri Ramakrishna describes their condition with great pathos:
"The bound creatures, entangled in worldliness, will not come to their
senses at all. They suffer so much misery and agony, they face so many
dangers, and yet they will not wake up. The camel loves to eat thorny
bushes. The more it eats the thorns the more the blood gushes from its
mouth. Still it must eat thorny plants and will never give them up. The
man of worldly nature suffers so much sorrow and affliction, but he
forgets it all in a few days and begins his old life over again." 7
We have seen how to a person of discrimination the worldly
pleasures are but an empty show, uncertainty and impermanence being
all their worth. The same is also true of name and fame, scholarship and
ability to expound the Scriptures. These cannot give man everlasting
happiness, though he may find some satisfaction in them for some time.
This is made clear in the dialogue between Narada and Sanatkumara
which occurs in the 'Chandogya Upanishad'. Once Narada approached

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Sanatkumara and requested the sage to teach him. Sanatkumara asked
him to narrate what he already knew. Narada then gave a long list of
subjects which he had studied, beginning from the Rig Veda to astronomy
and fine arts, and added: "Revered Sir, I am only a knower of words and
rituals but not a knower of Atman. I have heard from preceptors like you
that a knower of Atman goes beyond this ocean of sorrow, but as I have
not attained the knowledge of Atman I am in a state of grief. Be merciful
and take me across this ocean." 8
If scholarship alone were sufficient to attain everlasting happiness,
then Narada with his vast knowledge should have been most happy, but
he was not. He felt he lacked something which was the essence of felicity.
Where then lies happiness, true and changeless? In the knowledge of the
Atman, in the realization of God or Brahman. It is not merely theoretical
knowledge or book knowledge that Narada refers to, when he says:
Shrutam hyeva me bhagavaddrishebhyah, tarati shokamatmavit iti, "I
have indeed heard from preceptors like you that the knower of Atman
goes beyond all sorrow," but to the direct experience of Brahman or
Atman. The Rishis of olden times, who sought that Infinite Bliss, attained
it after strenuous efforts; and theirs was a different type of life, of strict
brahmacharya, and control of the senses. However, they did not say that
they were the only ones capable of reaching that state. One the contrary,
they called upon one and all, nay even those who resided in the celestial
regions to try and obtain their birthright, Immortality. For example, in the
'Shvetashvatara Upanishad ' the Rishi declares: "Hear ye all, the sons of
Immortality, and even ye that inhabit the celestial regions, I have known
the Eternal Purusha, who is beyond darkness and shines like the brilliant
sun. Only knowing Him one goes beyond death. There is no other way to
cross this ocean of transmigration."9
The Upanishads are full of passages that indicate the depth and
vastness of the bliss of Brahman: a bliss which is unalloyed, which can be
experienced even here, in this world, provided the person who seeks it,
lives his or her life according to the standard set by the Rishis, who had
attained Brahman.
Sri Shankara in his 'Vivekachudamani' warns us: "He who makes
the pampering of the body the main object of his life and yet aspires to
realize the Atman, is like that ignorant fool who mistakenly taking hold of
the crocodile, thinking it to be a log of wood, tries to cross the river." 10
That is to say, one who wants to realize God or Atman, has to abstain
from sensual indulgence. Knowledge of Brahman and the pleasures of the
senses, being poles apart, cannot be experienced at one and the same
time. The 'Bhagavata' says: "What acquisition or enjoyment can please a
man while death is near? Certainly they are not pleasing to him. It is like
offering grass to an animal that is being dragged away for slaughter." 11 In
another place it recommends: "Having after many births obtained this
extremely rare human body, which, though frail, yet serves as a vehicle
for man's supreme welfare, a person of discrimination should earnestly

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strive for Liberation, before the body, which is always subject to death,
happens to fall off; for sense enjoyment can be experienced in any
body." 12 Man alone, endowed with the faculty of discrimination, is
equipped to overcome the lure of the senses. In the ordinary human
being this faculty is dormant, so he is attracted by the tangible gains he
can make, and the palpable and pleasant objects he can grasp and enjoy.
As the 'Katha Upanishad' says: "The good and the pleasant approach
man. The man of intelligence having analysed them, separates the two
and selects the good in preference to the pleasant, while the man of little
intelligence opts for the delightful with a view to the growth and
protection (of the body etc.)." 13 The distinction between these two types
of objects is discernible only to a wise man who has the patience to
consider their importance or unimportance as also the fruits they will
yield; while the ordinary person misled by the immediate gains loses sight
of the goal of life.
But such indeed must be the immensity of the Bliss that one obtains
on reaching God, or realizing one's own Self, that very few, who
experience it, come back to tell the world about it. Sri Ramakrishna
illustrates this point by means of a parable: "Once four friends, in the
course of a walk saw a place enclosed by a high wall. They all became
eager to know what was inside. Three of them, one after the other,
climbed the wall, saw the place, burst into loud laughter and dropped to
the other side. These three could not give any information about what
was inside. Only the fourth man came back and told people about it. He is
like those who retain their bodies, even after attaining Brahmajnana, in
order to teach others." 14 Such is the charm of that state that when a
person reaches it he forgets everything else and the world with all its
kaleidoscopic pictures appears to him as the mere ashes of the
crematorium. Any doubts that may have existed in his mind regarding the
eternity of the Reality and the transitoriness of this world disappear
forever. But we have to work hard to retain it, otherwise, even if per
chance we attain it, we will not be able to bear its impact.
An incident that occurred in the life of Sri Ramakrishna will explain
this fact. Mathuranath Biswas, a son-in-law of Rani Rasmani, once
requested the Master to make him experience bhava samadhi. Sri
Ramakrishna tried to dissuade him but he would not listen. On the
contrary, he insisted that the Master bless him with that state. At last
when all arguments failed to convince Mathur, Sri Ramakrishna said:
"Well, I shall tell Mother and She will do whatever She pleases." In a few
days Mathur had his wish fulfilled, but he found it impossible to think of
anything except God; he could not turn his mind towards his worldly
duties. This frightened Mathur so much that he sent for Sri Ramakrishna
and when the Master arrived narrated his experience, the difficult
situation in which he found himself, and pleaded with the Master to take
back that state. Thus we see that unless a person equips himself properly,
by purifying his mind, controlling his senses, etc., he will not be able to

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contain this limitless bliss, which comes with the realization of the Divine.
We mentioned earlier that immortal bliss is our birthright and that
the whole of the creation lives by a fraction of this bliss of Brahman; also,
that one of the reasons why all men do not strive to attain it was because
of their ignorance about its existence. Similar things sometimes happen in
this world: for example, due to freaks of destiny children of rich parents
may get lost and may never come to know of their parentage or heredity;
or, one may bury his treasure when in great danger of losing one's life
and run away from the place in great hurry and when the danger passes
return to the place to recover it, but being unable to locate the exact
spot, walk over the treasure once and again. The 'Chandogya Upanishad'
gives a similar analogy: "Just as people who do not know the region, walk
over and over again the treasure hidden underground and never find it,
even so, all these creatures here, though they go daily into the world of
Brahman, do not discover It, for they are carried away by the untrue." 15
Their desires for impermanent objects mislead them. The world of
Brahman spoken of here is that of our real nature, into which we enter
when in deep sleep; when neither the distractions of the waking state nor
those of the dream world present themselves. Nevertheless, there
remains the ignorance due to the inherent desires for things mundane.
True happiness can be had only when these desires along with their roots
are removed from the mind.
Man has deluded himself by his attachment to the body considering
it to be his true nature. However, if he analyses clearly he will find that he
is neither the body nor the senses, nor even the mind, but something
else. Let is see how this conclusion can be arrived at. If man were only
the body then in sleep, when he is not conscious of it, he should cease to
exist. But this does not happen; it is the same man who went to sleep
that comes out of it. If he were to be the mind only, then in deep sleep he
should cease to be, for even the mind does not function then, but that too
does not happen. So we are forced to conclude that man is not only a
psycho-physical being but something more. The consciousness that this
psycho-physical being reflects, which gives it its identity, is not its own
but of the Indwelling Spirit, which is called Atman in Sanskrit. The Hindu
Scriptures say that It is of the nature of Sat, Chit and Ananda, i.e.,
Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute. When this Self is realized in Its
purest form it is identical with Brahman, from whom the whole creation
has emanated, in whom it exists and unto whom it will return. The
Upanishads are emphatic and unambiguous in their proclamation: "That
which is Infinite is only bliss; there is no happiness in the limited; in the
Infinite alone is Bliss, so one should inquire about the Infinite alone." 16 In
this word "limited" used by the Upanishad is included everything that is
not Brahman, even the highest heavens. These heavens are places of
enjoyments and subject to destruction as is everything else that is
created; besides, the pleasures one enjoys in these regions engender
fresh desires. And desire means misery, and never has misery been seen

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to generate bliss in this world.
So the 'Kathopanishad' declares: "The eternal bliss belongs to those
wise ones who see that One Lord,— who pervades everything, is
independent, and who manifests Himself in diverse forms,—residing in
their hearts, and to none else. To those wise ones alone belong the
eternal peace who perceive that Lord—who is the Eternal amongst the
ephemeral, who is the Consciousness of all that is conscious, who is the
One Dispenser of the fruits of actions of the many—as residing within
their own hearts, and to none else." 17
When can we realize this Atman, or in what state do we become
completely blissful? This Atman is realized in that state when one does
not see a second being, does not hear a second, does not know a second
thing, that is to say, when everything in this world which exist as name
and form, gets merged into that One. In other words when one realizes
his or her identity with Brahman; when one disidentifies oneself from the
body, the senses and the mind, or, as Swami Vivekananda used to say,
when we dehypnotize ourselves.
How can the Atman be realized? The Scriptures say: "It should be
heard, cogitated upon, and then meditated upon." 18 It should be heard
from a competent person, the acharya, because he only can expound the
meaning of the Scriptural texts authentically; he can only show us the
right 'path. The Shruti itself states: "When the Self is spoken of by an
inferior person It cannot be adequately known, for It is thought of
variously. But when taught by one who has become identified with It,
there remains no doubt with regard to It." 19 After hearing from a
competent person one must try to ruminate over what one has heard and
then meditate upon the Atman as taught by the teacher.
What does one achieve when one realizes the Atman, the Eternal
Being? Once this realization is ours, the scriptures say that we shall see
that Eternal Being, our own Atman, manifest everywhere and all delusion
and all misery will vanish. The 'Bhagavad Gita says: "Attaining which one
does not consider there is anything higher to be attained and established
in which one is not moved even by the greatest of sorrows." 20
However, it must be made clear that this bliss is not attained only
by those who tread the path of Knowledge but can also be experienced by
those who follow the path of bhakti. They too experience that unlimited
bliss in the proximity of their Chosen Ideal. A devotee of the Divine
Mother, like Ramprasad, ever immersed in bliss, sang and danced in Her
name and remained ever free. In the fullness of his heart he sang: "A
person who has for his Mother, the Blissful One does he live in sorrow!
The Divine Mother keeps him happy in this world and the next." Saints all
over India who worshipped God with forms attained such a blissful state.
It is not the exclusive property of any sect or class of society. Everyone,
wherever he be placed can strive for it. In this respect the assurance
given by Sri Krishna is very heartening: "If even the most wicked person
worships Me with one-pointed devotion, he should be regarded as pious,

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because he has rightly resolved. Soon he does become righteous and
attains eternal peace; know it for certain, oh son of Kunti, that My
devotee is never destroyed." 21

1
'Katha Upanishad' I.ii.5&6

2 'Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', Translated by Swami Nikhilananda, published by Ramakrishna

Vivekananda Centre of New York, Edition 1942, pp. 86-87

3 'Katha Upanishad' II.i.l

4
Ibid II.1.2

5 'Vairagyashatakam' 7
6 'Bhagavad Gita', V.22

7 'Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', p.165

8 'Chandogya Upanishad', Vll.i. 1-3

9 'Shevetashvatara Upanishad' II.5 & III.8

10 'Vivekachudamani' 86

11 Bhagavata'XI.v.20

12 Ibid.Xl.iv. 29

13 'Katha Up'. I.ii.2

14 'Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', p.268

15 'Ch. Up'. VIII.iii.2

16 Ibid.VII,xxivi.l

17 'Katha Up'. II.ii.l2&13

18 'Br. Up'. II.iv.5.

19 'Katha Up'. I.ii.8

20 'Bhagavad Gita'. VI.22

21 Ibid IX.30,31