Many of us strive for happiness and an end to suffering. In this article, we discuss some theories of happiness inspired by the Vedanta philosophy. A lot of this is taken from discussions I had with a respected colleague of mine, and from a book on the Science of Happiness by Pravrajika Divyanandaprana, a nun at the Ramakrishna Mission.
Normally, when our life is going well, when we are in a good mood or making progress in our job, we do not usually think about meditation or philosophy of Vedanta. It is only when things go wrong that we are reminded to study philosophy and meditate. However, it is in the good times when we can learn and practice the best techniques that will help us at times of adversity.
Teachings of some important Upanishads on issues of awareness and existence
The Upanishads, written thousands of years ago in India, provide an unique insight into the theory of our existence and thus also offer the keys to true happiness.
Beneath all our thoughts and experiences, we have the thought of “I exist”. The Upanishads further develop upon this theme and explain about the roots of the thoughts of our existence.
In the Prashna Upanishad, important questions about our existence are raised. Such questions can arise when we are a kid or during a mid life crisis or after a sorrowful experience: questions such as where did i come from, how did life begin, and so on.
Kena Upanishad deals with a series of questions that often come to us during a mid life crisis, but we do not pay enough attention to. Examples of such questions include: who is knowing I am seeing a picture, who is hearing the sound that enters my ears, Will this fancy car make me happy, what will give me happiness and so on.
As per Hinduism, life can be divided into different stages: the 1st 25 years are meant for study, 25–50 for a good family life and finally 50–75 for going to the forest and contemplating on such important philosophical questions. The scriptures such as Karma kanda, aranakya, and upanishads provide some hints of answers to such questions.
One of the important points is Drik Drishya Viveka, or discernment of what I am seeing. For example, I am seeing a pillow, so the pillow is not me but is different. My physical eyes and the pillow which I see externally with the eyes are different. Here, mentally thinking about and seeing a pillow is also a thought. I know I am seeing a pillow. Another seer is in the mind who can perceive what my external eyes are seeing. My external eyes are different from that perceiver. So there are two layers of separation: the object (pillow) and my eyes and the perceiver. I am also aware when the thought is starting and ending: the thought of perceiving a pillow in this case. I am aware when I am happy and sad. Thus, our awareness is a constant on which our thoughts are coming and going.
In the style of the Mandukya Upanishad, another of the important upanishads, the reasoning goes this way: When I am awake I have various experiences, such as on waking up I do my daily work, eat, exercise, go to work and so on. At night I go to sleep, my physical organs are shut, and my body is not moving. I may have dreams when sleeping: in my dream state I can see a tiger chasing me and it feels also real. Even in the dream state, a perceiver is present and has all these dream experiences.
Sometimes, we go into a deep sleep and not have dreams, it is also called REM sleep or Sushupti. In this case, after I wake up I know I have slept. But here too, the awareness doesn’t go away when I am in deep sleep. Hence this awareness is still the constant at all times. So that awareness is the real YOU.
As per Vedanta, I don’t know the pillow that I perceive. Vedanta teaches that we don’t always know correctly who we are. So we always confuse the body and mind. For example, we may feel that we are fat, when actually it is our body that is fat. But the body is changing all the time as well. Despite that, we feel it is the same always. However, the awareness is unchanging. The same can be said for our mind: sometimes it is happy, sometimes sad, sometimes angry. So the mind cannot be me, since it too is constantly changing. This leaves us with the conclusion: that therefore I am the awareness.
Always we are not conscious awareness, sometimes we get confused and believe we are the body and mind. In reality, I am this infinite consciousness, but I feel I am limited because I confuse that I am the small body and small mind. I am infinite and big originally. But due to ignorance, I get confused that I am a small entity, and also grab whatever makes me happy in the short term, such as money and fame.
I identify myself in a small way by our religion, our family, our job, our wealth, position in life and so on. For example, I think I am an engineer and that’s why I am happy. But I am in reality infinite awareness that perceives myself as an engineer. We are infinite beings, confuse ourselves as small. Out of this the suffering comes: we feel things we like (such as money and things we buy) give us happiness. Similarly, the things we dislike, we try to avoid them. But our likes and dislikes are all in the mind. We are never born, never die, always are happy. The moment we KNOW that we are infinite beings, that becomes the source of true happiness.
Three schools of Vedanta
The three schools of Vedanta, with progressive understanding, are as follows:
1. Dwaita: As per the Dwaita philosophy, I feel I am awareness always, but in normal daily life transactions I cannot conceive myself to be that and cannot identify myself with that. This is first stage of the mind.
2. Vishishta advaita. As per the vishishta advaita philosophy, there cannot be two infinities. If I understand, I have an infinite mind and that there is only one infinity. The infinity in me and the infinity in you are same. It is just manifesting as two different people. To take an example, consider a garland of pearls joined by a string. The infinity is the string, and each manifestation of it such as the cat, dog, you and me are the pearls. Thus, I understand that awareness that is there in everyone is same.
3. Advaita vedanta. This is the highest philosophy. Since we already know there cannot be two infinities, why can it not be possible that there cannot be anything but the string (in the previous example of pearls threaded together on the string). So we come to realize that there is nothing in the world that is matter, it is consciousness only. It is the same consciousness that is being reflected. The people who truly realize and understand this are the happiest people. They only see consciousness, not physical objects with the eyes.
Stages of understanding Advaita
the three stages of understanding Advaita Vedanta are as follows:
First stage: this is called sravana or listening. In this stage, we hear about the advaita teachings.
Second stage: This is called manana or thinking. Here we constantly think about it through own life experiences. This is closer to vishista advaita.
Third stage: This is the stage called nidhidhyasana or contemplation, for example through meditation. Here we meditate in order to realize the truth.
Finally we gain the highest stage of realization and seeing all things as being only consciousness. The liberated beings have reached this stage, where they only see consciousness in everything and cannot see matter. This we can see from their shining faces, they are always happy.
Yoga is a contemplative process. This includes the stages starting from dharana, dhyana or concentration stage: we follow the process till we reach the stage of Samadhi.
Vedanta teaches that the realization is just like a flick of switch of understanding in your mind. Before and after the realization everything is same, but only that you know the geography, that you are not body and mind, but only awareness. The perception of body and mind and objects is only transactional reality that you confused yourself with.
Sankaracharya’s teaching of Adhyasa Bhasya clarifies this confusion. In it, Sankara says that when we are still in confusion of who we are, till that time, nothing in world can make us happy. The day that confusion clears out, that day nothing else matters and we gain true happiness.
In the Chandogya upanishad: there is a series of questions from a young child Swataketu, to his father Uddalaka who was an enlightened person. The father says to the son Swataketu: Have you learnt that by knowing which you don’t need to know anything else, go back to your teacher and ask the teacher to teach you that. The father thus tries to teach his son 14 times, taking no food for 14 days but only water, and then asks him to recite what he learnt. After 14 days of no food, the son had difficulty in remembering even the alphabets. Then the father told him to eat some food, since food is power in which memory operates. In this way, the father leads the son through all these teachings. Is food everything: then breathe, pranamaya kisha etc. Finally, when the teaching is given for the 14th time: then the son gets it. He realizes that he is not his small identity, but he is that awareness.
To understand the truth of Vedanta realization, we have to keep on hearing and churning in our mind and talk to people and keep thinking about it every time. We should do this 24*7, and also keep analyzing our daily experience, till we know the truth finally.
There are various clues to self knowledge. These clues include the understanding that “I” has remained the same even though our body and mind have changed, and the understanding that to be aware we do not need any effort. When we stop the thought in our mind, nothing remains but the awareness.
Through these clues, we can get an understanding of our awareness being the unchanging reality. We can go through all these processes, but that switch has to happen. Nobody can do it for us, since we are confused of our existence. We were one originally, the One wanted to play. That play led to the world appearing as the world. The One was bored, since nothing interesting was happening. When we get the realization, we have no attraction and no repulsion (isha vashya), no hate and no linking, no knowing and no not knowing, no likes and dislikes, so everything becomes one in our perception.
The more advaitin we become, the more we think about the world, we can observe realized masters and the way the talk and move and conduct themselves. Once you understand vedanta, world is nothing but you. Without the understanding we desire for a good car or dress, we want to buy for ourselves. But once we get the understanding, the entire world is us. If world is filled with vedantists, it will become the best place. Once a person truly understands vedanta, everything will fall into place. The thinking becomes in a different plane, so is the lifestyle.
As per Karma theory: I am this infinite conscious being, but have been in the confused state for all previous births. So we are an accumulation of karmas, and we have the habitual nature of doing things that are untruthful. We have the habit of lying, so our course correction has to happen over and over.
Here is an interesting experiment: Jot down your thoughts for a day in a notebook. If you are having thoughts about food and basic needs, thoughts of how to help others, knowledge, jot them all down. At the end of the day, see if you have positive or negative thoughts more. As our realization improves, we can see we will have more positive thoughts. Finally, for the realized person, for 24 hours they have only positive thoughts. We are the happiest when we have no desires.
Some good books and online talks
Some good books to understand the upanishadic and vendantic views of happiness include the following:
Science of Happiness Hardcover — 1 March 2020 by Pr. Divyanandaprana (Author)
Eight Upanishads: With the Commentary of Shankaracharya (Volumes 1 and 2) Hardcover — 30 January 2010 by Swami Gambhirananda (Author)
Both are available on amazon and in Ramakrishna Mission bookshops.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge and thank my colleague Serene for a lot of the invaluable information related to Vedanta and books to read.
