P 106 107 How to Get Happiness and Peace?

(In Prayag once a king came to darśan and asked for means of getting worldly peace and heavenly bliss. This is the gist of the teaching Guru Dev gave him in response.)

The main reasons for worldly restlessness situated in your heart are desire, anger, greed, delusion, intoxication, and envy. These are also the main obstacles for realizing the highest goals of man.

Due to these six subtle inner enemies, we regard some people as friends and others as enemies. Caught up in loving some as friends and hating others as enemies, one’s life becomes turbulent.  It is therefore of utmost importance for attaining peace that one completely subdue the six inner enemies.

The six inner enemies are virtually causing harm to the inner mind due to rajaguṇa and tamasguṇa and they can therefore only be subdued by the predominance of satguṇa.

To achieve this, it is imperative that the daily routine of man be in accordance with the scriptures, i.e., sattvic food, good company and reflection on the scriptures. With such a routine, the quality of purity in one´s inmost being increases, right discrimination arises, the six enemies are naturally subdued, and the cause of unhappiness is eradicated.

To get the experience of the bliss of the ultimate reality one must also gradually increase the efforts into spiritual practices with japa and meditation as instructed by one’s Guru.

Just as desire and anger etc. – the root causes of all worldly unhappiness – are only within us, so too is the unbounded ocean of bliss – the supreme self – is also within us.

By following the instructions of Guru, one makes his experiences within himself and thereafter, after long practice of worshipping, the individual soul gets the entrance to the uninterrupted ocean of bliss of sat chit ananda.

This very one attains the state of a jivanmukti (liberated while living) and during this lifetime he experiences the summit of the bliss of the ultimate self.

If one has found a real Guru and practices with faith and confidence the spiritual exercises exactly in that manner as taught by him, then one will progress according the Guru´s advice and make his own experiences even with only a little practice. And finally by the light of ātma he enters the field of everlasting shining and unbroken bliss and gains success in this human life.

In short, this is the only way to attain worldly peace and divine bliss.