Purified mind alone can be happy

We all wish to be ever happy. People seek happiness varied ways. Whenever some desire is fulfilled, one becomes happy. Many of the unfulfilled desires may still keep hounding. Fresh desires keep arising. Many of them bring unpleasant and therefore frustrating experiences. So, ordinarily, happiness is temporary. It is in this backdrop that philosophers and learned ones have been deliberating over ways and means to secure permanent happiness since ages. They offer varying meaning and ground for securing happiness such as cultivation of moral and intellectual virtues; becoming desireless; contentment; welfare; dignity of individual; higher fulfilment of human capacities; and balanced emotional frame of mind. 

If we look at human construct and the chemistry of mind, securing permanent happiness doesn’t seem to be an easy task. Kashmir Shaivism suggests that human beings are born with 6 constitutional limitations. First, limited creativity. One cannot service even existential needs by oneself. So, one has to share the resources made available by others. Second, limited knowledge. Therefore, one lacks a holistic understanding of the dynamics of life. That makes one fallible. Third, for the above reasons, one is born with an inherent sense of ‘want’. That breeds in a sense of desire, lust, possessiveness, having related psychological limitations. Fourth, limitation of time, whereby one looks at events in terms of past, present, and future. Often, carry over effect of past memories keep confronting us. We get caught up in the pleasant or painful experiences of the past. Also, we keep speculating about future. In the process, we fail to put in our best towards the callings of the present, and with obvious consequences. Fifth, limitation of space that accounts for varied appearances - physical, culture, lingual, and religious. That brings in a sense of divide making us opinionated. It, thus, tempts us getting into comparison mode, which doesn’t allow us relating to people around on even terms. Sixth, the law of causation, which binds us to cause-effect chain. It has a carryover effect not simply in life ahead in immediate terms but could stretch on to even the next life. The choices we make, and the ground we thus create, sets the terms of future. As people go through varied experiences in life, their carryover effect would also differ. Accordingly, everybody is born unique, manifesting varying mind-traits, often in conflict with others. The world, thus, becomes a natural breeding ground for conflict of thoughts and interests.

For the above reasons, we are all born ignorant, our minds preconditioned one way or the other. Consequently, ordinary mortals are said to have access to hardly 5 to 7 percent of the mind space. More than that is subject to conscious efforts. That limits the scope of our vision. We, thus, fail to look at issues in hand in the right perspective due, and with obvious consequences. It may not be out of place to mention here that human mind, which drives all actions on our part, is guided by a sense of dual perception. That makes one vulnerable to internal conflicts and difference of opinion with others. Now coming to the chemistry of mind, one keeps flirting with random thoughts, most of them inconsequential and even negative. That keeps us so much involved that it hardly allows mind-space necessary to objectively process fresh thoughts. If that would not be enough, ahamkara (the sense of ‘I’) further compounds our problem. Identifying with inherent mind trends, it takes them as their end game. It doesn’t allow looking beyond for a reality check or finding out a better option if any. Also, it doesn’t allow digesting contrarian views. In this backdrop, the idealistic framework offered by logicians won’t help, unless we address our limiting tendencies from the root level. 

What then is the way forward? Eastern mystics take the view that inner wellbeing alone can ensure a smooth run of life, but for which securing happiness in the living world would not be possible. They suggest turning our attention inwards to identify, acknowledge, and address the limiting tendencies of mind through fresh educative inputs and expand the scope of vision. With an expanded vision, one looks at things with an open mind without any precondition whatsoever, which will let us view things in the right perspective due. That will help making right choices in life. With a purified mind, if you explore the eternal and living realities of life, you may know how and where you fit into the complex game plan of the world. Life may then turn into a pleasant experience.