Last evening we were invited to our family friend's house-warming ceremony where we performed ecstatic kirtan, danced to our hearts content while chanting the holy names of the Lord, relished nectarean spiritual discourse - remembering the sweet pastimes of Lord Krishna and finally savoured delicious prasad prepared by all of us. My friend has recently shifted to Mumbai from California. Her cute 6 year old daughter had been dancing all throughout my kirtan. She seemed to have developed affinity towards me. She sat by my side for the rest of the evening. When we were about to leave, my friend suddenly caught hold of my hand and said, 'Meghna you look so radiant as ever. There is a positive aura around you, just like you've had in school. You always look so happy and peaceful. Please tell me - Is there a magic formula for happiness?.'
We eat and consume food every day, atleast three times or as many health-conscious people would say multiple times during the day, to gain strength. It's not that we just eat on Monday and comeback the next Sunday to eat again. We have to regularly nourish ourselves, or else we would become weak.
Similarly, regular association with people who uplift us is extremely important, and regular connection with the Lord of our hearts is critical for maintaining and improving our spiritual strength.
People often wish, naively though, for a life free of problems. Our desire for eternal happiness is not unnatural; the soul is by constitution, sat cit Ananda - eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. However our attempts to seek this happiness are often beset with unrealistic expectations. We foolishly think our body or mind will provide us the much needed bliss. This hope is thwarted time and again, for the body, by definition is temporary. We can experience eternal happiness when we connect our eternal souls to the eternal spiritual principles through bonafide spiritual practises.
The unfortunate irony is even spiritual practitioners sometimes get discouraged when they encounter challenges, temptations, and obstacles on their path. At such times we need to remember the magic formula for eternal happiness; 'persistence in practise'. We need to exercise our meditation, prayer and other practises daily. This regularity helps us connect to the divine and thereby experience happiness of a higher dimension.
Chanting God's names every day, reading through the scriptures regularly, offering sincere prayers daily, and constant association of those people who inspire us, makes spiritual life very simple and blissful. Thus, it's the consistency in our practises - that's the magic formula of happiness.
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