Finding Happiness in the Bhagavad-gita

By Bhakta Carl Sheppard

Everyone wants to be happy. The sad truth is that most of us do not understand what true happiness is, where it is found or how to go about attaining it. Fortunately for us all, the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, has given us the keys to happiness in His famous discourse, the Bhagavad-gita. Once we come to know the source of and the means to achieve happiness we can understand that our focus must be within ourselves, for happiness is an intrinsic quality of our true self.

The soul is composed of three qualities: eternity, knowledge and bliss. This inherent happiness derives from a different source and is of a superior quality to the type and level of happiness that most of us seek to attain. Most of us believe that happiness derives from gratifying the material senses. A day at the beach full of sights, sounds, smells, taste and touch, which saturate the material senses is just the type of experience most look toward in their search for happiness. The sight of the ocean blue, the sound of the surf, the smells and tastes of a picnic lunch and the feel of the cooling waters are the type of sensory stimuli that most of us depend on for our happiness. In Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna kindly explains why such sensory based happiness is not sought by the wise. In chapter 5, verses 22 and 23, Lord Krishna tells us,

“An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of enjoyment and misery which are due to contact with the material senses … such pleasures have a beginning and an end, so the wise man does not delight in them. Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the forces of desire … he is well situated and happy in this world.”

A wise man does not give in to the sensual hankerings for he knows of the transient nature of such pleasures and he knows of the teaching that Lord Krishna gives us in Chapter 3, verse 39 of Bhagavad-gita, where He tells us that these material desires can never be extinguished. As soon as the pleasurable stimulus that was exciting a material sense is withdrawn, the craving for a new pleasure begins. Such is the endless cycle of material sense gratification. It is when we give up activities that are designed to fan the flames of our material desires and replace these endeavors with activities that cultivate our innate happiness that we find true peace and fulfillment. Lord Krishna, in chapter 5, verses 22 and 24 of Bhagavad-gita, instructs us thus,

“One whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within, and whose aim is inward, is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme and ultimately he attains the Supreme…a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self realized person enjoys unlimited happiness for he concentrates on the Supreme.”

These instructions are based on simple principles. Lord Krishna is the original source of all happiness and when we are in contact with Him we naturally experience this happiness. Just as when one is in contact with fire he is naturally warmed.

Once we come to know, through Lord Krishna’s mercy, that this pure form of happiness is available to us, we should try to understand and adopt the means where by we can enter into this blissful state. In chapter 6, verses 27 and 28 of the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna kindly gives us a formula for attaining this natural state. He says,

“The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest perfection of transcendental happiness…the self controlled yogi…achieves the highest stage of perfect happiness in transcendental loving service to the Lord.”

Here, Lord Krishna gives the three main ingredients to the formula for happiness:

1. fixing the mind on Krishna,
2. practicing self control, i.e. restraining the senses, and
3. engaging in loving service to the Lord.

Many who become interested in Krishna consciousness are taken aback by the copious amount of available literature. These volumes of information and teachings are so vast and variegated that some of us get lost before we ever get started. The avatars, the demigods, the planetary systems, the histories, the personalities and the teachings are so full of names, terms and concepts which are unfamiliar to most of us, especially those from the Western world, that it is very easy to become overwhelmed. However, when we break the endeavor down to the three standards mentioned above, we find the task less foreboding, and when we take into account the fact that this path leads to a state of perfect happiness, then the idea of going forth seems worth the effort.

Lord Krishna’s most recent and also most merciful incarnation, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, specifically focuses His teachings on the importance of fixing the mind on Krishna. He gave the sum and substance of the Vedas as follows,

“Krishna is the origin of Lord Vishnu He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the sastras should be the servants of these two principles”

(Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 22.113).

We have Lord Krishna’s assurance that by this simple practice of fixing our minds on Sri Krishna we can attain “the highest perfection of transcendental happiness.” The fact that this happiness is referred to as “transcendental happiness” is a vivid indication that it is not of the same nature as the happiness derived from the material senses.

By remembering Lord Krishna we also perfectly perform the third aspect of the happiness formula, for remembrance of the Lord, in and of itself, is one of the bona fide means of engaging in loving service to the Lord. Lord Caintanya has instructed us that in the current age we should enhance our attempts to always remember Lord Krishna by engaging ourselves in the chanting of His holy names. This can be done as a solo practice, by chanting on our japa beads, or as a group. Srila Prabhupada speaks of how this simple chanting process is a joyful means of endeavoring toward the unfolding of our blissful nature. He says,

“Simply by chanting the holy name of Krishna - Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare – a devotee of the Lord can approach the supreme destination easily and happily…”

(Bhagavad-gita, purport 12.7)

The opportunity for us to achieve permanent, transcendental, perfect happiness is available to us all. We should make a serious attempt to give up our efforts at finding happiness through our material senses. This repression of sensual urges relates to the second aspect of Krishna’s formula for happiness, that of self control. For many of us, this relinquishment of material desires becomes the most difficult aspect of the formula, but we should not let this struggle stand in our way, for if we practice the other two aspects, which we simultaneously do when we chant Krishna’s names, then Krishna Himself will help us to cleanse our heart of unwanted desires. When we faithfully take part in remembering the Lord and chanting His names we are brought into direct contact with the supreme Lord and are thereby automatically swept up into Lord Krishna’s ocean of eternal, unlimited happiness.

This ocean of bliss is not something that we can only experience beyond the grave; it is an experience that we can enjoy here and now. Lord Krishna confirms this in chapter 14, verse 20 of the Bhagavad-gita where he says that we “can enjoy nectar even in this life.” If happiness is what we want, then we can follow Lord Krishna’s simple formula, and happiness is what we will get. So let’s all take a swim in the shore less ocean of Lord Krishna’s mercy by fixing our minds on His names, forms and pastimes. Let’s chant and by happy.