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Happiness without a Cause

There is a magazine for girls called YM (Your Magazine!). I saw a recent issue. The cover lists an article in bold red letters: 246 REASONS TO BE HAPPY. Below the caption, it lists three categories of reasons:

* The Prettiest Prom Dresses

* White Teeth in One Week

* Cute, Funny Boys

Inside there are pages of pictures of high school girls in prom dresses. Those dresses are so pretty, they will make any depressed seventeen year old girl happy. Forget about inner peace, the article says: OUTER PEACE, Ah, harmony. That is what you will experience when every part of your look is working together. The dresses range from $169.50 to $349.50.

And now finally, you can improve your smile with amazingly whiter teeth in just one week.

The text reads: Just when you thought things could not get any better than one-hour photo developing and quick-dry nail polish, we are happy to report that you can now whiten your teeth at wrap speed.

All you need to do is buy Rembrandt 2-Hour White Kit for $20.

On page 53 of the magazine, there is a thumbnail of a dozen cute boys in their late teens. They are fit and handsome; some with surfboards and skateboards and some with bikes and footballs. Right there, there are twelve reasons for a young girl to be happy!

But then a few pages down, there is an article in the magazine that an increasing amount of young women are seeking counseling for depression in college. Colleges are full of hundreds of cute young men. They should be a hundred reasons for happiness. Apparently, the 246 reasons to be happy do not seem to be working.

We are conditioned all the time: by media, marketing, religion, banks, parents, teachers and friends that this or that will give us happiness. It appears to be that the reason for happiness is always something that is not now. When we are single, being married would be a reason to be happy. When we are working, the next vacation or retiring would be a reason to be happy. When we are busy, some quiet time would be a reason for happiness. And when we have nothing to do and are bored, becoming busy would be a reason to be happy. When we are child, becoming an adult would be a reason to be happy. If we are fair skinned, being tanned would be a reason to be happy. It appears that what is not always is a reason to be happy. However, when that reason becomes reality, it ceases to be a reason for happiness. Immediately, we have new pursuits for happiness and so goes the chase for happiness.

Two Jain monks, Saman Sthitpragna and Saman Shrutpragna were visiting the San Francisco Bay area in 1992. They taught yoga and meditation. Until 1992, I had looked upon the practice of meditation as either a humbug or something so esoteric that it was inaccessible. Upon the urging of my wife, we signed up for the yoga and meditation class taught by these two Indian monks. We had the fortune of their good company for two hours every day, including weekends, for the next six weeks.

I have always been a good and disciplined student. In this class, I was sincere and consistent in learning and practicing what I had learned. I would practice meditation twice daily for half an hour. Something I once considered so esoteric and inaccessible was starting to become accessible.

I was then working as the Manger of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Information Technology (IT) at a California office of a large UK based multi-national engineering company. The company was in process of standardizing Computer Aided Design (CAD) software for all their engineering offices. I was invited to a meeting arranged for this purpose in Poole, England.

I flew on a British Airways flight from San Francisco to London. I came to London and rented a manual car. I drove about four hours for the first time in my life on the left side of road to reach my hotel in Poole. It was a nice British hotel tucked in the trees. It was an early Saturday afternoon on a crispy autumn day in England.

I settled down in my room and took a short nap. When I got up, there was not much to do so I decided to practice my daily meditation. I used to practice standing meditation those days. I stood in meditation in my room; steadily, relaxed, quiet, calm, and alert, just watching my breath.

Suddenly, there was sense of tremendous happiness. I felt a shudder of super orgasmic pleasure rising from the bottom of my spine to my head, goose bumps all over the body; all without a cause, without striving, without wanting. The uncaused happiness enveloped me in its light.

This true happiness was not about what is not. It was about what is. It was not about something happening tomorrow. It was not about having gained something. This happiness had no cause. It arose from a lack of striving. It was not a result of wanting to go somewhere or do something to be happy. This happiness was a lack of confusion, doubt, fear, guilt, and desire. It was based on the absence of these obstructions to happiness. It was like an absence of clouds which allows sunlight that is always present to appear.

Once having seen this uncaused happiness, there was a clear realization that there was no benefit in chasing to relive the event that just took place. The event itself is about NOT chasing anything, including happiness!

I wrote the following lines about one of my experiences in Gujarati. Here is the translation of the poetic lines that occurred to me:

There must be a reason for happiness So, we have learnt

But in infinite silence of no words, Why am I feeling the breeze of happiness?

Why am I feeling the joy In merely existing in presence?

I am just standing Time and date is now Not my birthday, New Year or Christmas

And there is absolutely no reason Why am I feeling happy?

There must be a reason for happiness So, we have learnt

So, Dear Dream! We can look for the 246 reasons for happiness which are listed in YM magazine. However, even better, you can just be breathing and alive, steady and silent and feel the breeze of uncaused happiness!

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Enjoy.