By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

What is it that you are unhappy about? You are unhappy about the situations and circumstances around you. You are unhappy about the people around you. Are they going to be there forever? They are moving and changing. It is all like a flowing river! Wake up and see the person you saw last night is not the same person this morning, this evening, or tomorrow. Why are you unhappy about other people? Know they are all like bubbles on the surface of the water. They are fleeting; they are moving. 

Situations change

You are unhappy about situations and circumstances. How long are they going to be there, not forever? They all move and change. 

Your body is temporary

What else are you unhappy about, the health of your body? How long you can hold onto your body even if it is very healthy? Can you hold on to it forever? One day it is going to drop. If a body gets sick, just attend to it. Getting mentally agitated makes it even worse. It is the nature of the body to be sick and healthy.

You are not your body or mind

You are free the moment you see unhappiness is not in your true nature. If you have pain, observe it’s happening in the body. If there is tightness or joy in your mind, observe that the mind is tight, sad, unhappy or happy. Just observe that you are not enjoying, and it is happening elsewhere, as though it is happening elsewhere.

See everything is happening

Now trust my words: “You are not the doer”. Life is ‘happening’ on this planet. Everything is moving. Your mind is going through ups and downs, sorrows and joys. It has its own ways, its own time.

There’s only one way you can be happy: seeing that you are not the doer, that everything is just happening.

Let it happen. Thinking you are the doer agitates you further, and you become much more restless. Even not to do, to undo, is another doing. The desire to do something to get out of it is another ‘doing.’ It’s something like a pond being muddy. You know this, but then start stirring it more. And if you keep stirring, it is bound to become muddier. There is no way it can settle down. When you can feel “I am not the doer”, when this confidence, this faith dawns in you, that is nectar. With that, you will become happy.

Ignite the fire of knowledge

Let this fire of awareness, this fire of knowledge burn all that ignorance and destroy your sorrow. Do not be unhappy. There is no need to be unhappy or sad about your body, the things happening in your mind, about people, situations, events, and circumstances around you. Then, what can you be unhappy about? Can you be? Is there any other thing to be unhappy about? 

Sukhī bhava! (Be Happy!) It is an order as well as a blessing.

Editor’s notes:

Sept 20-22, 2019, Art of Living is celebrating Happiness Weekend offering Happiness Program across 100+ cities across the USA with a special guest appearance live online by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. A rare and unique opportunity, don’t miss it. Click here to find the Happiness Program near you.