Happiness is something every human being seeks, yet many people search for it in external achievements, possessions, or temporary pleasures. we strive endlessly for fame, fortunate and security, falsely believing that they will bring us happiness and joy. True happiness, however, comes from within. According to Yoga & Ayurveda, happiness is experienced when the mind, body, and soul are in harmony. It is not merely a moment of excitement but a lasting state of peace, contentment, and balance.
In today’s fast-moving world, stress, unhealthy routines, and emotional imbalance often disturb our natural state of well-being. By making small but meaningful changes in our daily lives, we can gradually cultivate genuine happiness.
Yoga, the sister alliance of Ayurveda and the ancient spiritual philosophy teaches us how we can achieve happiness from within. The word Yoga translates to connect, union or to merge. definition of yoga is to connect with divine power. The greatest joy we can experience is the joy of union with divine. and this joy can be experienced within oneself only. which is millions of time more then any joy we experience in the material world. it is pure bliss and ecstasy. Any individual, who experiences this joy for even a fraction of a second, would not give it up for anything in the world. Not for money, fame or anything else.
A very important spiritual truth is being stated here. We need nothing from external world to make ourselves joyful. We don’t need money, jobs, security, fame, or the approval of other people to be happy. We are truly individuals without need.
The greatest joy we can experience, we experience within. Once experienced, nothing in the external world matches it. People who understand this truth, find their lives changing dramatically. They stop competing with others and start sharing more. Material achievements cease to be their primary concern. Instead, they focus their attention on seeking the true source of joy within. They work more productively without stress, and their lives become more joyful.
Then, how we can attain joy, the answer is when the mind is still, without any thought, that is the secret of connecting with divine power. to experience the bliss within we need to learn to still our mind. if we can control our mind we are no longer subject to desires and wants. but it is extremely hard for normal person to control the thoughts. for that reason yogis have suggested some techniques that helps to control the thought process. these techniques are practices of meditation. many meditation techniques teaches to quieten the mind, by first focussing the mind on a single point. It is easier to still the mind, by first concentrating the mind on something, than by not concentrating on anything. The breath has been known to be one of the easiest ways to concentrate the mind. That is why the meditations involving breath have been given first priority for stilling the mind. breath awareness is the best practice to start with, sit in a siddhsasna or lotus pose, keep the eyes closed and observe the breaths. we want to be aware of our breath, our focus is on each inhalation and exhalation. if we can do for five minutes, we will notice that the breathing becomes subtler and longer, and mind becomes quieter, we start to feel the piece within, there is no thought of desires, ego, wants, worries, because we become one with our breath. that time we become real yogi. real union takes place with breath. that is the simple and practice for a learner to still the mind and exploring the journey of happiness.
So now we know that happiness is not that we can find outside of ourselves- it is cultivated from within by awareness. this practice reminds us to live in harmony with the nature.
There are many more practices are taught for achievement of happiness, we will try to learn in my coming blogs, till then our homework is to practice breath awareness for one month and I will come with other practice which will help us to enhance our journey towards happiness.
I hope you enjoyed this article, thanks for encouraging me to keep writing blogs. see you next time with other interesting topic to make our journey memorable. Thanks again.