Are you happy? Need honest answers...

[tackleberry]

Dear Devotees,

 

Are you happy?

 

I don't mean happiness that depends on a certain fulfillment or object, but happiness that comes from within, happiness that comes with an increasing love for Krishna. Obviously, only this type of happiness can be proof that our bhakti for Krishna is genuine. That's why I am asking whether any devotee actually feels that strange kind of happiness, happiness born of love of God, happiness that has no cause.

 

Serious and honest answers only, please. Let's discuss this.

[Shakti-Fan]

Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja:

 

Janaka Maharaja had given the definition of bhakti to Lord Rama’s brother, Bharata. "Anyabhilasita-sunyam, jnana-karmady-anavrtam, anukulyana krsnanu-silanam bhaktir uttama. One who has no other desire than to please Krsna, and who is not influenced by the process of jnana-marga (cultivation of knowledge) karma, and so on, is situated in pure bhakti.” The king told him that nothing can control prema (pure love of God); it has its own law. One who has prema will always consider the desires of his object of love. He has no personal interest. He will always think, "How will my beloved be pleased?" Our real purpose is to please our worshipful deity, God and Guru; not to please ourselves."

[tackleberry]

 

Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja:

 

I understand, but this should give happiness to the devotees, if I am not mistaken. That's what I am asking, whether devotees have experienced the transcendental bliss of serving and pleasing the Lord.

[krishnaleela]

 

Dear Devotees,

 

Are you happy?

 

I don't mean happiness that depends on a certain fulfillment or object, but happiness that comes from within, happiness that comes with an increasing love for Krishna. Obviously, only this type of happiness can be proof that our bhakti for Krishna is genuine. That's why I am asking whether any devotee actually feels that strange kind of happiness, happiness born of love of God, happiness that has no cause.

 

Serious and honest answers only, please. Let's discuss this.

 

I am not sure you are looking for my answer; I am not officially a vaishnava.

Our interpretations of "love for Krishna" may differ.

 

Any case, I do find that happiness (as I understand). It is not quite the happiness of sense enjoyment; it is the happiness of peace, contentment, of not needing more. That comes (for me) when I can recognize Krishna as both doer and enjoyer (whenever the mind recognizes the doing and enjoying) and the notion of "i" is lost in that recognition. i.e. even that becomes His play.

 

To be precise, not only "i" but also world and other souls etc. All that is experienced is 'understood' as the appearance of Krishna, and He alone is the Reality who thus appears. If the state of witness of the Lord is attained, then there is contentment/happiness. That is the state of surrender of the mind/self: His Presence alone remains.

 

Not that it is perfect, and the mind brings up the ego-consciousness. But it is a thing for sadhana (practice).

 

Ofcourse, you may contend all this, and some may call it mayavada etc. But in truth, when the ego-consciousness is there, the personal relationship with Krishna/Ishvara is stressed in one way or another. However in that as well, I find happiness in thinking of all else as His manifestation, etc: in that sense, I have His darshana wherever I see and think of Him in everything. It can get tricky however if I want to be individual soul but not allow for others as well. So in this path, this is not the final state of happiness; it philosophically may create troubles. But then again, it is a thing for sadhana.

 

The Vaishnava approach does not encounter such a mid-point problem, since the dualistic philosophy is accepted as the end unto itself. And you have to accept the scriptures and saints of your sampradaya, and go further. I have given the advaita viewpoint and my encounters with happiness and inner understanding that that Happiness is Truth.

[CCC]

 

Dear Devotees,

 

Are you happy?

 

I don't mean happiness that depends on a certain fulfillment or object, but happiness that comes from within, happiness that comes with an increasing love for Krishna. Obviously, only this type of happiness can be proof that our bhakti for Krishna is genuine. That's why I am asking whether any devotee actually feels that strange kind of happiness, happiness born of love of God, happiness that has no cause.

 

Serious and honest answers only, please. Let's discuss this.

I think that that happiness is the best sympton of spiritual advancement, more advanced more happiness...

btw that happiness is not stange, material happiness is strange

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

material happiness is strange

 

Yes. Most material happiness really only consists of a temporary relief from suffering, doesn't it?

 

"I've stopped beating my head against the wall, and I suddenly feel so happy."

[tackleberry]

 

Yes. Most material happiness really only consists of a temporary relief from suffering, doesn't it?

 

 

How so? When you taste chocolates, is it just a relief or do you find real happiness?

[mjan]

What do you mean by material happiness and what by spiritual happiness

[indulekhadasi]

 

How so? When you taste chocolates, is it just a relief or do you find real happiness?

 

If you think about it it is really just a relief because the happiness is temporary.

[indulekhadasi]

 

What do you mean by material happiness and what by spiritual happiness

 

Material happiness- happiness derived from an earthly object, this type of happiness is always temporary and often doesn't satisfy a person enough

 

Spiritual happiness- a different level of happiness entirely, derived from serving Krishna or one of his dear friends/servants, this happiness is ever lasting

[Inedible]

A book I've been reading recently mentioned that studies have been done on a person's capacity to be happy, showing that 50-80% of the causes for happiness to be genetic, varying from one study to another. In many ways I find that I am a little happier than my parents but for the most part it is only that I am simply less unhappy than they are. Rather than suggesting like so many other authors do, the one who wrote the book I'm reading suggests becoming more involved in your life and adding meaning to it so that your life will be more satisfying. By having more disruption in your life you may find yourself actually feeling more negative emotions, but you will at least be feeling something instead of just watching the clock run down. Oddly enough it will be much more satisfying.

[mahak]

Srila Prabhupada promised me initially (which means initiation in the purest sense if I take him up on his offer) that if I chant hare krsna, my life will be sublime.

 

He has kept his promise, and I still chant forty years later. My life is very sublime, but only if I KNOW what is meant by "life". If I consider my material plight, maybe it doesnt seem so sublime, with my car problems, my severe poverty, my 57 year old physical form full of cancers, viri, chemical poisonings, horrible position as expendible human designation for genocide by maniacal social forces and the wranglings of the mind mixed with natural calamity. But this is not my life.

My real life is when I see a sunset and on a lark, start dancing or singing hare krsna, and feel ecstatic symptoms. My real life is the one where eyes fill with tears when I come to realize that even duryodhana is not demon, but a devotee, a pure one, who in the crystal lake heard bhagavad gita from the lips of Sri Sanjaya and purified his life at the very end, that his rasa was a chivalrous one as he simply played a role of animosity against Krsna (all the while maintaining close friendship with Lord Balarama BTW). My real life is with Lord Ganesha as he met his father, Lord Siva, for the first time and lost his head. This is reality, to absorb ones existance in the pastimes of Lord Krsna and his confidential associates.

As far as the car and the food supply goes, krsna will provide, or he wont. But that is nothing to do with the promise of my guru maharaja, which has come to pass.

So, to answer your question, I say "VERY".

hare krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

[tackleberry]

 

If you think about it it is really just a relief because the happiness is temporary.

 

I am not sure how that is on two counts. It cannot be relief in this case, because relief means relief *from* something. So that doesn't apply in this case of eating chocolates. Second, whether temporary or not, it's real. Our toothache is real, even if it lasts only a minute. So material happiness must also be real, temporary or not.

 

Anyway, to come back to the subject, do you experience spiritual happiness due to your sadhana?

[yogesh]

 

I am not sure how that is on two counts. It cannot be relief in this case, because relief means relief *from* something. So that doesn't apply in this case of eating chocolates. Second, whether temporary or not, it's real. Our toothache is real, even if it lasts only a minute. So material happiness must also be real, temporary or not.

 

Anyway, to come back to the subject, do you experience spiritual happiness due to your sadhana?

Happiness is no big deal. By this I mean that sometimes when I chant I get this ecstatic mood and somedays just.... nothing. I do not care to analyze my mood. All I know is that this "Happiness" comes and goes no big deal. I do not let it phase/disturb me from continuing my chanting ( which I do everyday)

 

Like everybody else I have my worries, sorrow and happiness.

 

Thanks to Sirla Prabhupada and the devotees I know that this material world is a place of (Soekh and Doekh) Happiness and Distress. So as long as I am imprisioned in this Devi Dham I accept my lot and carry on with my sadhana and try not to get hung up by my mood. (Do not get me wrong it is great to feel "happiness" and not good to feel "sadness".) But what to do....

 

Here I am a Prisoner in Devi Dham .

My moto is just push on and do the best you can with the situation at hand.

 

PS: (I found it very interesting if you look at the word Soekh directly translated from Hindi means relief from distress and not Happiness per se)

 

Hare Krsna

 

Jay Sirla Prabhupada

[indulekhadasi]

 

I am not sure how that is on two counts. It cannot be relief in this case, because relief means relief *from* something. So that doesn't apply in this case of eating chocolates. Second, whether temporary or not, it's real. Our toothache is real, even if it lasts only a minute. So material happiness must also be real, temporary or not.

 

Anyway, to come back to the subject, do you experience spiritual happiness due to your sadhana?

 

Yes, these things are real if you look at it in that sense.

 

I feel I become really happy in the association of devotees in a nice kirtan!

And I finally felt some real happiness when I went to Ekachakra dhama this year... but since I am not a pure devotee I soon fall into the material pool again with all my material desires. The material desires then put me into this reflection of happiness/distress.

[Kulapavana]

 

Dear Devotees,

 

Are you happy?

 

I don't mean happiness that depends on a certain fulfillment or object, but happiness that comes from within, happiness that comes with an increasing love for Krishna. Obviously, only this type of happiness can be proof that our bhakti for Krishna is genuine. That's why I am asking whether any devotee actually feels that strange kind of happiness, happiness born of love of God, happiness that has no cause.

 

 

yes, I am happy. I actually see myself as atmarama. However, that does not mean that my bhakti for Krsna is genuine. I am just happy with what I have. It is not yet a true love for Krsna, but a deep appreciation for Him. Even that makes us happy and peaceful.

[gHari]

Melting into a pool of mush on the ground - I find happiness too wonderful to entertain for long.

[Guest]

Im happy in worshipping Bhagvan. Real pure hapiness in relaising that my Bhagvan is happy. Its a different exoperience.

 

Jay Swaminarayan

[tackleberry]

 

Im happy in worshipping Bhagvan. Real pure hapiness in relaising that my Bhagvan is happy. Its a different exoperience.

 

Jay Swaminarayan

 

Makes little sense, no offense. Why is it important to realize bhagvan is happy, or how is it going to help us in any way? Seeking happiness for oneself is natural, why would anyone care whether bhagvan is happy? It's like saying, I worry more about my neighbor's happiness than I do of my own....

[Sarva gattah]

 

If you think about it it is really just a relief because the happiness is temporary.

 

Tackleberry, I humbly request you to read and learn what devotees believe

 

We are not these biological vessels nor are we the underlining ethereal body that houses the nitya baddha jiva, such containments belongs to the mahat-tattva that is ultimately created and facilitated by Maha-Vishnu.

 

Actually this material world and all the physical bodies in it (mahat-tattva) is the dream of Maha-Vishu, that we can choose to enter and take one of HIS bodily creations if we choose, simply by forgetting Krishna and who we really are as nitya-siddha-jiva outside of this temporary mahat-tattva creation.

 

The point is WE are NOT these biological vessels. We are not even, what many say, that is on the ‘other side’, meaning the ethereal bodies that can appear in a heavenly, hellish or ghostly material reality that is often referred to as sub-space and mistaken as spiritual.

 

Many religions and spiritual groups including the Buddhist 'heaven' is simply a higher sub-space aspect of the material creation or mahat-tattva. In other words, one is still contained in a material body which is ethereal on the heavenly planets however, like the rest of the mahat-tattva, that 'heavenly place' is also perishable.

 

Also it is important you know that the sub-space ethereal vessels (referred to as the subtle body) are ALSO a material reality yet, even though material, such bodies can NEVER be discovered by the grosser material secular biological reality of the mahat-tattva.

 

In other words, one CANNOT see or experience the sub-space ethereal aspect or dimension of the mahat-tattva by using secular space matter, which includes the biological bodily vessel. This means that sub-space can never be discovered by the electron microscope or the Hubble telescope.

 

And this is just explaining the perishable the material world that is a dark temporary cloud in the Spiritual Sky or Brahmajyoti.

 

There are also two schools of Vaishnava thought that explain this -

 

1. 'In the spiritual perpetual world of Vaikuntha, no biological body or its underlining ethereal body does not exist, nor does even the nitya-baddha-jiva impure consciousness subsist that possesses those bodily vessels. This is because the nitya-baddha-jiva consciousness is the temporary imaginary non Krishna Conscious state of the marginal living entity, WHILE our real eternal bodily identity and self, always remains nitya siddha in the eternal ‘present’ beyond the ‘past, present and future’ of the material creation or mahat-tattva'

 

2. 'The devotees who believe we came from the Impersonal Brahmajyoti ALSO believe that our ultimate goal is to become an eternal servant of Krishna in either Goloka or Vaikuntha and ultimately see this material world, along with both the biological (earthly) and ethereal (that can be heavenly, hellish or ghostly) vessels, AS not the real identity of our full SPIRITUAL potential or individual identity'.

 

The full potential and constitution of the marginal living entity is an eternal servant of servant of the servant of beautiful Krishna, KRISHNA-BHAKTA.

 

Therefore ultimately we are eternal nitya-siddha devotees of Krishna and are not from or this material world (mahat-tattva), we are only visitors.

 

That devotional selfless body is NOT a container, vessel or vehicle, IT IS WHO WE REALLY ARE ETERNALLY AS KRISHNA’S SERVANT.

[where did it go]

thanks for keeping it real-cancer does that hey ?

It's so easy to be a devotee when you have a fit strong body . I used too also when young,i was as fit as a bull , never really experiencing any real body/mind stress.

I have had excruitating headaches for decades , no matter what i try to aleviate the suffering. I simply just accept it as my karma now.If Krsna wants to change my condition , then thats o.k.also ...lol.

Perhaps compassion , as in my case ,has to be taught with a very blunt instrument .I do 'get it 'now !

No-one is a true disciple until truely tested .When it comes ...?

I have witnessed so many disciples full of bhakti for a time , often in the early days ,running around and telling all and sundry with authority how to find Krsna , until the first real test comes , that is.Then so many leave or become 'strange'...

 

Maya clouds our vision and dictates to us that we know so much and thus can pass judgement so blithely on others.Only Krsna can really ever know a jiva's innner struggle.

 

 

 

Walk a mile in my shoes , before you critise and choose............

 

So to answer the question ,

Yes i do feel that 'strange kind of happiness ' from time to time ,(i get lifted out of myself ),AND ALSO trying my best at the same time to be strong in that whatever Krsna deems fit for me , i.e. more than half my life with debilitating migranes , is HIS will and i bow my head to it.

[tackleberry]

 

thanks for keeping it real-cancer does that hey ?

It's so easy to be a devotee when you have a fit strong body . I used too also when young,i was as fit as a bull , never really experiencing any real body/mind stress.

I have had excruitating headaches for decades , no matter what i try to aleviate the suffering. I simply just accept it as my karma now.If Krsna wants to change my condition , then thats o.k.also ...lol.

Perhaps compassion , as in my case ,has to be taught with a very blunt instrument .I do 'get it 'now !

No-one is a true disciple until truely tested .When it comes ...?

I have witnessed so many disciples full of bhakti for a time , often in the early days ,running around and telling all and sundry with authority how to find Krsna , until the first real test comes , that is.Then so many leave or become 'strange'...

 

Maya clouds our vision and dictates to us that we know so much and thus can pass judgement so blithely on others.Only Krsna can really ever know a jiva's innner struggle.

 

 

 

Walk a mile in my shoes , before you critise and choose............

 

So to answer the question ,

Yes i do feel that 'strange kind of happiness ' from time to time ,(i get lifted out of myself ),AND ALSO trying my best at the same time to be strong in that whatever Krsna deems fit for me , i.e. more than half my life with debilitating migranes , is HIS will and i bow my head to it.

 

Can't believe Krishna could be so cruel, giving too many sorrows to devotees. Maybe this is why the so-called demons hate Him, it's because they find this to be a fallacy in the Lord. So it may not be blind hatred. Funnily, I rarely come across devotees who're blessed with wealth, health etc. OTOH, Krishna often rewards his haters with all these things. What sort of game is this?

[suchandra]

 

Dear Devotees,

 

Are you happy?

 

I don't mean happiness that depends on a certain fulfillment or object, but happiness that comes from within, happiness that comes with an increasing love for Krishna. Obviously, only this type of happiness can be proof that our bhakti for Krishna is genuine. That's why I am asking whether any devotee actually feels that strange kind of happiness, happiness born of love of God, happiness that has no cause.

 

Serious and honest answers only, please. Let's discuss this.

When people ask me about the periode of time when living within ISKCON I rather look like a bit uptight.

May be like this mataji who is trying to restrain her real thoughts about too many contradictions.

 

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

Can't believe Krishna could be so cruel, giving too many sorrows to devotees. Maybe this is why the so-called demons hate Him, it's because they find this to be a fallacy in the Lord. So it may not be blind hatred. Funnily, I rarely come across devotees who're blessed with wealth, health etc. OTOH, Krishna often rewards his haters with all these things. What sort of game is this?

No game. True mercy. If our mundane wealth is stripped away and we are sincere, we will seek our spiritual wealth--service.

 

Ultimately, *all* happiness, whether we call it "material" or "spiritual" is coming from the Lord.

 

Being a recent Gayatri initiate, I've been meditating on why the final Gayatri mantra I was given is, at least on the surface, a prayer to Kama Dev, the God of "lust". It seems strange, unless we gain some insight into the true nature of lust.

[where did it go]

 

Can't believe Krishna could be so cruel, giving too many sorrows to devotees. Maybe this is why the so-called demons hate Him, it's because they find this to be a fallacy in the Lord. So it may not be blind hatred. Funnily, I rarely come across devotees who're blessed with wealth, health etc. OTOH, Krishna often rewards his haters with all these things. What sort of game is this?

 

Thats the game.Lose everything to gain everything.

Depends on the karma you carry over and the potency of your desire to be rid of it , or better put , to lose onself in Krsna.

Krsna is never cruel ,of course , but moths get burnt flying too close too a flame ,they can't help themselves , the attraction is too strong ,and thats o.k. too.I was a moth also. I was a perfectionist from birth, never satisfied with whatever i did ,always pushing myself i.e. , a prime candidate to learn Compassio the HARD way.

I could only see my ( and thus of course everyone else's ) faults .A glass half empty , rather than half full type.O.k. , enough info re. this insignificant life (amongst so many before and no doubt after this current one.)

 

Even a mere ( by spiritual comparison ) drug-free (lol) sporting world champion has to undertake massive discipline to achieve a mere worldly goal.And we expect LESS of a spiritual goal ?

 

Yes , for some fortunate/older souls ,few in number , whose karmic bonds to Mayic delusion are fragile , cruise through Sannyas .

A true test of a devotee is never how much ...'happinesss' he/she feels .The deeper thread is always sincerity.Those further on the path than the rest of us only look at the SINCERITY of a sadhak . The stronger the disciple , the stronger the tests .

 

We read in the Great Books about the great trials devotees of Krsna suffered but which never threatened their determination or faith for an instance and yet , somehow , when it applies to US ,to me PERSONALLY...........then its all so different .But that was history !!! No ,No , No , THEN it is all becoming very very Real , and to feel Lord Krsna's compassion in one's suffering is worth far far more than mere 'happiness'