Our mind often tries to define happiness in a certain way – ‘Only if I obtain this object will I be happy, only if achieve this will I be happy’. If we don’t achieve or obtain that thing we are likely to feel disappointed.
Even if we do get what we want, that happiness will not stay there permanently. In due course of time it disappears since the object on which it is based is impermanent. Then again we feel insecurity, anxiety, unhappiness and look for something that can give us happiness again.
Instead of defining what can give us happiness, if the mind can be quiet and composed, then that is the best happiness we can obtain.
As Babaji says, ‘Even for a moment if you have experienced the silence of the mind, then you realise that is when the mind enjoys the real happiness. When the mind is quiet, at peace, then you have peace.’
So the mind is that source of the peace which we are looking for, beyond any definition that we can give – it is there naturally. That is what we can achieve in meditation as the mind becomes more and more purified of its habits and becomes quiet.
After all, everything we do is for happiness. Whether we realise or not, we want to do something if it makes us feel good, if it leads to some sort of comfort or security. Babaji mentions, ‘If we cannot enjoy anything, we would not like to do that. We need to enjoy. We are looking for that enjoyment, that happiness, that peace. When peace is there, peace is the highest, supreme, then there is a serene quietness. And in that quietness a real enjoyment happens. Enjoyment need not be by extrovert excitement only. A real enjoyment is when we don’t lose it, we are composed, at peace. That is what is real, true enjoyment. So that is how we have to proceed in meditation.’