HAPPINESS AND MISERY - 5

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5. " What is happiness? Is it inherent in the Self or in the

object, or in the contact between the subject and the

object? "

 

Bhagavan: " When there is contact with a desirable object

or memory thereof, and when there is freedom from

undesirable contacts, or memory thereof, we say there is

happiness. Such happiness is relative and is better called

pleasure. But we want absolute and permanent

happiness. This does not reside in objects but in the

Absolute. It is peace free from pain and pleasure — it is

a neutral state. " (talks 28)

 

Note: Peace, which characterises true happiness, is neither

pain nor pleasure; for both are active states, resulting from

the contact of the subject with the object, as well as from the

memory of it, which requires the going out of the subject

from himself in pursuit of the object, whereas peace is

inherent in the being of the subject himself, as we have

proved it in the illustration of sleep. This peace has no relation

whatever to the object, the not-being. To BE is peace, is bliss.

 

 

 

REFLECTIONS ON TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

By S.S. COHEN