The Temporary Nature of Material Happiness

Happiness is our inherent yearning for fulfillment in some form, to gain pleasure or to
avoid pain. We believe we will be fulfilled through material pleasures, but these successes will
not cause lasting happiness. The rewards are only temporary. Subsequently they will create
more desires to which we reach for again and again, eventually leading us to the same void.

The Duality of Happiness and Sorrow
When striving for happiness in this way, there is a cost. In a dualistic world—where both
subject and object exist—a seed of sorrow flows with every happiness attained. Nature
balances itself through its opposite. The yin-yang symbol depicts a white circle within black, and
a black circle within white. Within every dark, there is light; within every light, there is darkness.
Although these forces seem opposing, they are also complementary. One could not exist
without the other, for how would you know happiness unless you also knew sorrow? Likewise,
how would you know up unless you knew down? Opposites are necessary for us to form a
reality.

The Illusion of Personal Reality
Self-realized masters describe our personal reality as a great illusion. They teach that
truth lives in the present moment. Yet this moment soon becomes a remembrance to talk about,
compare, diagnose, or judge. All becomes a quantification based on the standards we set and
the interpretation we adhere to. No longer living in the present moment, we are thrown into a
dual world: past and future, good and evil, birth and death.

The Non-Dual State of Oneness (Advaita)
The Eastern term advaita (not-two) was explained ages ago within Vedantic literature as
well as by twentieth-century philosophers such as Rupert Spira and Francis Lucille. It is written
within pages of age-old scriptures and in the beautiful poetry and prayers of great saints and
sages.

Seeking Lasting Joy and Bliss
Advaita is not a belief, but a realization that you are one with the greater whole. So long
as we perceive ourselves as separate, life will appear to have opposites. Once we come to this
realization, we attain lasting joy, also known as bliss—a term used to describe an eternal joy
unencumbered by desires and ultimately by sorrow. It is a state of consciousness we all
knowingly or unknowingly seek. Bliss is found only in the state of oneness, and the methodology
to reach this state was taught by those who accomplished it.

Wisdom from Jesus and Mystics
Jesus said to them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner
like the outer, and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make
male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female,
when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an
image in place of an image, then you will enter the kingdom.” (Gospel of Thomas, Saying 22,
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures)

The Path to Enlightenment
Could we be searching for happiness in all the wrong places? In his book The Science
of Religion, Paramahamsa Yogananda explains that our sensory self, which perceives all outer
influences and all material processes, may be the main cause of seeking tangible objects or
situations—that is, owning a business, getting married, or buying a new car—for what we
believe will achieve lasting happiness. Still, our happy moments are later encumbered by bouts
of sadness or even depression. He explains that once we control the outer senses and go
inward, we discover an internal silence that holds the deepest experience of ourselves and our
true nature. We often hold dreams of a future filled with lasting joy while indulging in life’s
superficial desires or toying with the dream of final happiness when we die and go to a heavenly
place. The mystic poet Kabir warns us:

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If you don’t break your ropes while you are alive,
Do you think ghosts will do it after?
The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
Just because the body is rotten –
That is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with
An empty apartment in the City of Death.
If you make love with the divine now, in the next life
You will have the face of satisfied desire.
(The Kabir Book, by Robert Bly)

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Jesus has a similar warning: “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, whatever you release on earth will be released in heaven” (Matthew 18:18
[English Standard Version]). Many people have been drawn to spirituality, most with happiness in mind. They are seeking an alternative path to lasting joy. Can we really have a life free of sorrow? Many men
and women have walked the earth and achieved the highest state attainable: the power to rise
above duality into the oneness state of pure joy. They are called the enlightened masters. In this
book, I dive into their world and explore what it takes to raise ourselves to a state where pure
joy, unencumbered by sorrow, awaits.

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About the Author: Laura A. Brusca describes her spiritual journey in “The Expanded View” exploring various religions and traditions, ultimately finding fulfillment through the teachings of enlightened yogic masters. The book is available through Amazon.com.