Happiness in the Midst of Battle!

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest | Preaching on Battlefield

Happiness in the Midst of Battle!

The Bhagwad Gita was narrated in the midst of a battlefield – when Lord Krishna, cajoled, provoked, threatened, dictated, guided Arjuna to pick up his weapons and go and fight, whereas Arjuna was loathe to do so as the people on the other side were ‘friends and family’. And if you really see, life is nothing but a battlefield with each individual fighting his/her own individual battle. This entire narrative in 18 chapters is nothing but 18 different ways to find the ultimate Truth. This is perhaps the first scripture, the earliest of the ancient texts, which practically demonstrates the fact that there are many paths to The Truth – that there is no single path, but different paths to the same Truth.

Some people are battling just to survive, some to try and rule the world and others to make something of their lives – a very few of them are looking beyond life’s battlefield to find the ultimate truth. Each person in his/her own way is looking for happiness amidst life’s daily battle.

It’s a good idea to wonder sometimes, why are some people interested in religious matters, when they can also live without being interested in them? It is possible — many people live like that, and yet some people feel — no, no, there is something behind all this; it can’t be just what we see and hear. The search for the Supreme starts in many ways, for different people in different ways.

The crux of the Gita is that you cannot withdraw from the battlefield of life – it is not that you are withdrawing from evil; you are literally withdrawing from life’s battle! This is something which each one of us faces at some point or the other. There are so many situations facing us – what do we do? Either we jump into it with great violence and angst to try and overcome it or run away from it – both solutions are not good. There is always a middle way to tackle each situation with moderation – that is what yoga and meditation teaches us.

Every human being goes through travails and pain and sadness in life. No one can escape from this. The happiest person, at some point of his life, may have passed through difficult times. We really do not know when these difficulties can come. That’s how many people turn to religion. 

The greatest illusion that we have is that we are going to sleep and wake up tomorrow morning. There are many people who don’t wake up. And yet, hope is such a thing that it makes us work for tomorrow. Then, when something happens, which is not according to our willingness or desire, we are dejected. Unhappiness sets in. Happiness is a rare commodity — when we try to grasp it, it escapes, and when you grasp it, it is so dear to us that we don’t want it to slip away. Therefore, unhappiness begins right there, when happiness goes.

Now, the practice of Yoga and meditation is the means and way of finding that happiness, which means our true identity; when we discover that, we are not what we think we are, but something completely different. Swami Vivekananda explained it beautifully. He said: “We are hypnotised by the false happiness that the world seems to give us. We have to de-hypnotise ourselves and come back to our senses.” Remove all the conditions that are there and remain in one essential state where one discovers that one is not this body or the mind but the inner self, the soul which is free of all unhappiness, and which by essential nature is Sat Chit Ananda, or true happiness.

Based on Satsang Foundation newsletter