Everybody wants to be happy and free from sufferings. That is why we do whatever we do – we eat this or do not eat that, we go there or do not go here, we talk to that person and not the other person – all our acts are determined by the basic wishes: to be happy and away from suffering all the time. It means we are seeking happiness all the time and we have not yet found it.
We may be unhappy if the sun is not shinning – that means people in England where it is largely cloudy people are going to be unhappy all the time. We may say, the rain makes me unhappy – then people in largely drizzly places are going to be unhappy. But it is not so – people in England on cloudy/rainy days are also happy. Therefore the external factors are not determinants of happiness – we have been seeking happiness from a place ‘where it is not to be found’ – the external factors which we cannot control. So we are all set for unhappiness.
We have therefore to seek happiness from a different source. It is with-in us and we have to find it with-in. Happiness and unhappiness are states of our mind. We are unhappy because our mind is tuned to seek happiness from external sources which we cannot control . To be happy, one has to re-tune the mind to experience and seek happiness from with-in. How do we do that? Meditation practice is the way. There are various ways to practice meditation – focusing ones attention on breath or God is one. It involves forgetting whatever else is happening in body/mind/world. If one plays badminton his focus is on shuttlecock. He is totally immersed in the movement of shuttlecock – it is meditation. So anybody can learn/practice meditation in any form and as the level of focus increases, the happiness is attained.
– Prof. (Dr.) N. K. Garg