The Secret of Happiness...

The secret of happiness is hidden under the cover of spiritual knowledge.

Bowl of Saki, April 20, by Hazrat Inayat Khan




Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The soul in Sanskrit, in the terms of the Vedanta, is called Atman which means
happiness or bliss itself. It is not that happiness belongs to the soul; it is
that the soul itself is happiness. Today we often confuse happiness with
pleasure; but pleasure is only an illusion, a shadow of happiness; and in this
delusion man may pass his whole life, seeking after pleasure and never finding
satisfaction. ... Do you think that if these people gained their desires they
would be happy? If they possessed all, would that suffice? No, they would still
find some excuse for unhappiness; all these excuses are only like covers over a
man's eyes, for deep within is the yearning for the true happiness which none of
these things can give. He who is really happy is happy everywhere, in a palace
or in a cottage, in riches or in poverty, for he has discovered the fountain of
happiness which is situated in his own heart. As long as a person has not found
that fountain, nothing will give him real happiness.

A Marathi poet has said, 'O mind, my restless mind, my mind with its thoughts of
a thousand things which it supposes will make it happy, saying, 'If I had that,
I should be happy; if I had this, I should feel life was not wasted.' O, my
mind, will you tell me who in this world is happy?' The mind says, 'if I had the
wealth which I see others have, I should be happy.' But are these others happy?
They in their turn say they would be, if they had something still higher!

The secret of happiness is hidden under the veil of spiritual knowledge. And
spiritual knowledge is nothing but this: that there is a constant longing in the
heart of man to have something of its origin, to experience something of its
original state, the state of peace and joy which has been disturbed, and yet is
sought after throughout its whole life, and never can cease to be sought after
until the real source has at length been realized. ... It is only those who are
blessed by perceiving the origin and source of all things who awaken to the fact
that the real inclination of every life is to attain to something which can not
be touched or comprehended or understood. The hidden blessing of this knowledge
is the first step to perfection. Once awake to this fact, man sees there is
something in life that will make him really happy and give him his heart's
desire. He can say, 'Though there are many things in life which I need for the
moment, and for which I shall certainly work, yet there is only that one thing,
around which life centers, that will satisfy me: the spiritual attainment, the
religious attainment, or, as one may even call it, the attainment of God.' Such
a one has found the key to all happiness, and has found that all the things he
needs will be reached because he has the key to all. 'Seek, and ye shall find:
knock, and it shall be opened unto you... Seek first the kingdom of God, and all
these things shall be added unto you.' This kingdom of God is the silent life;
the life inseparable, eternal, self-sufficient, and all-powerful. This is the
life of the wise, whatever be the name given to it; this is the life which the
wise contemplate. It is the face of this life that they long to see; it is the
ocean of this life that they long to swim in; as it is written: 'In Him we live
and have our being.'

These are the ones who are really happy, who are above all unhappiness, above
death and the destruction of life.