Radio Ruhaniyat: 2-08-2014. Episode 340.

HAPPINESS! The Balloon Game!

When we feel bliss after smelling the rain, we take a deep breath and then we tend to close our eyes momentarily so that we could experience the ecstasy. Why do we close our eyes when we kiss, cry, dream or even pray……That’s because the most beautiful things in life are not seen, but felt by the heart….Happiness is one of them…..

Once a group of 50 people were attending a seminar.
During the seminar, the speaker stopped and decided to do a group activity. He started giving a balloon to each of the delegates and asked them to write his/her name on it; using a marker. Then all the balloons were collected and put in an adjoining room.

Then the delegates were led to that room and asked to find the balloon with their name within five minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other, pushing around others and there was utter chaos.
At the end of five minutes no one had found their own balloon.
Now each one was asked to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it.
Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

The speaker then explained— this is exactly what is happening in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.
Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness; you will get your own happiness.
And this is the purpose of human life!

-Story contributed by Vandana Sethi & Shivani Singh

Happiness is contagious! Be happy so that others around you can just look at you and become happy! Happiness lies in the simplest of things: Not having expectations from others opens doors to happiness. Being humble is the biggest key to happiness and one of our most ardent enemies is EGO: it’s main characteristic is that it is absolutely amazing at snatching away happiness. And as Deepak Chopra often says: “If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved and the need to judge.”

It is usually our state of mind that determines whether we are happy or sad. We often have to play the role of a counselor for our mind. As we gradually learn to control and keep a check on our mind, the Happiness knob in our head starts turning from “SAD” to “HAPPY”.  It is great to aim high but it is also important to stand strong and never let anything affect our state of mind. Negatives come and Positives go but if we take control of the ‘Happiness’ knob in our head, we can make the decision to stay happy.

And as Rajan Sachdeva ji has beautifully explained: Strange is the nature of 'man'. We are always longing to get or achieve something. The moment we get it or achieve it, longing for it diminishes and its value reduces.
We take it for granted and start longing for something else. We want a job. When we get it, we start longing for a promotion. When we were children, we wanted to grow up faster so we won't have to be dependent on our parents. When we grew up, we longed to have a partner and children. When we have children, we expect them to listen to us and do what we tell them to do. As they grow, we have expectations from them.
At some point in our life, we start longing for 'Gyana'. By the grace of God, when we receive it thru the True Master, we take it for granted again and start longing for something else... namely 'Power '. Power makes us hungry for more power.

Would there ever be any ending to our 'wants' and desires? Would we ever be happy and satisfied?

We think we will be happy if we continue to accumulate more and more of what we want, may it be money, love, respect or power. We do not appreciate what we have. We forget there was a time, when we were desperately longing for what we have right now.

"In the summer we like it cold, in winters we like it hot.
It’s the nature of man to always like what it is not."
Acceptance and appreciation of what we have, is the way to happiness.

And always remember: We either make ourselves happy or miserable.
The amount of work we put in is the same!