Mind & Happiness 54

Shankara & disciples

Since our Mind & Body are not natural to us, we can never feel completely at ease or happy with either of them, or with any of the Material, Sensual, Mental, Intellectual, or Emotional pleasures that we may enjoy through them.  Why should we think that Happiness is our Natural State, & that un-happiness is something unnatural to us ?  If our True Nature is really Happiness, why do we not feel perfectly happy at all Times ?  How does un-happiness arise ?

We can understand this by critically analyzing our experience of our 3 States of Consciousness, Waking, Dream & Deep Dreamless Sleep.  In our Waking & Dream states we experience a mixture of pleasure & pain, or Happiness & un-happiness.  But what do we experience in Deep Dreamless Sleep, when this mixture of Pleasure & Pain is removed ?  In the absence of this mixture, do we experience Happiness or un-happiness ?   In the state of Deep Dreamless Sleep, do we not feel perfectly happy, & free from all misery or un-happiness ?  Is it not clear therefore that neither un-happiness, nor a mixture of Happiness & un-happiness, is natural to us? Since we can exist in the absence of un-happiness, it cannot be our Real Nature.  Un-happiness is merely a negation of Happiness, which is natural to us.

If un-happiness cannot be our Real Nature because we can exist in its absence, can we not say the same about Happiness ?  When we are unhappy, are we not existing in the absence of Happiness ?  No, Happiness is something that is never entirely absent.  Un-happiness is a relative state, one which exists relative only to Happiness.  Without the underlying existence of Happiness, there would be no such thing as un-happiness.  We feel unhappy only because we desire to be happy.  If Happiness were ever to become absolutely non-existent, we would not feel any desire for it, & hence we would not feel unhappy.  Even in a state of the most intense un-happiness, Happiness still exists as something for which we feel desire.  There is therefore no such thing as absolute

un-happiness.

If un-happiness is something that is merely relative, can we not say the same about Happiness ?  Is not Happiness also a relative state, one which exists relative only to un-happiness ?  The Happiness that we experience in Waking & Dream is certainly relative, & is therefore always incomplete or imperfect.  But can we say the same about the Happiness that we experience in Deep Dreamless Sleep  ?  Does the Happiness of Deep Dreamless Sleep exist relative only to un-happiness ?

No, in Deep Dreamless Sleep un-happiness is totally absent. When we are Deep Dreamless Sleep, un-happiness does not exist even as a thought, or as something that we fear or desire to avoid. Therefore, since un-happiness cannot exist without a desire for Happiness, but Happiness can exist without even the slightest notion of un-happiness, un-happiness is entirely relative, whereas Happiness may be either relative or Absolute.

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"There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth."

–  the "no creation" school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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