I have seen lots of people suffering and rejoicing in life around me. You might have seen this over and over in everyday life.Its quite ironical that when you are rejoicing for an event in Life, your neighbor might be suffering with some event that happened the same day or time. You might never know if it was caused by a Single event or collection of events in your life or your's neighbor's. I have asked many what is their definition of Happiness and i asked them in a different context or a time what is their definition of Sorrow.
Surprisingly i got similar answers in most of the cases. Let's analyze them together. Here is the collection of some of the answers i have mentally recorded. These are what a typical human being (Man/Women) define as a source of their happiness. There are many to state , but i have a limited few thoughts which are quite common among people i met.
Source of Happiness
- My child behaves just like me and she is all that i ever wanted as child.,
- I have very many friends who are happy with me or who are always striving to keep me happy.
- I am financially successful and my investments,career are on right track
- I have beautiful and understanding partner.
- I have had good meal with family and nice outing. I get absolute peace and happiness with these routine
- I play good amount of sports and lead a very healthy people. I surround myself with healthy and joyful people.
- I hear my favorite music and go for a big long walk with my pet.
Source of Sorrow.
- My closest friend/family member passed away.
- I lost my job and am very worried about job market
- I had a huge financial loss or my fighting hard to meet ends .
- My children are sick or they are not in my control.
- I live in a bad family or neighborhood and i feel unsafe about my life and future.
- My efforts are going in vain and i am under appreciated by my closest person.
- I am not being loved and feeling depressed in life.
This emotions are quite clear and repeats in every human life in different context. Have you ever wondered why all these emotions occur ? is it Fate or is it how the Human life is designed to operate. One thing common in all these are that both happiness and Sorrow happens in every life. No human life is full of joy or full of sorrow. Like our philosophies quoted " All Good Things don't last long, All Bad things either". So if you have seen and heard that these are temporary emotional state in human life, why is it so strong and overwhelming when it occurs ,that takes your mind away from this reality into something your entire body appreciates?. That is subject of Heaven and Hell i am here to discuss with you today.
You might have heard somebody in the peak of joy or either yourself quoted saying i am so happy that i feel like i am in heaven or the same person in deep sorrow stated that his life feels like hell " i cannot handle this anymore". So whenever you asked somebody to look at heavens his face automatically looks up and whenever you ask for hell he would look down towards earth below. Is it really the place for heavens in deep and endless cosmos and hell below our feet as one with endless screams and burning fire.?
Our Saints have shown that they can imitate moments of Heaven and sensation of hell for a temporary period of time. Once there was this humble man who was very dedicated to god and worships every day for his divine grace. He due to course of his life , was unfortunate to have lost his young son suddenly due to some incurable disease.He and his wife were buried in endless sorrow as they loved their son more than anything else in this world and was happy as years passed. But all that moments of happiness ended suddenly when tides of time took away his son permanently. He was so buried in sorrow he forgot to pray the divine and left alone his daily duties. The Supreme being who is the happiness of all happiness in the cosmos was affected by the suffering of his two beloved souls on earth. He decided to appear as a old man and came to his house. Seeing the hungry old man, the humble Man and women felt helpless and was lost in endless sorrow, The Old man asked if he will be given any arms or not? .
He looked at the humble man and asked "i see you are in sorrow. But i think i can help you become happy again"
Humble Man said " i lost my beloved son, can you bring him back. My life has become a living hell"
Old man said " certainly with my divine powers, but with one condition"
Humble Man" Anything to fix my sorrow, what do you seek in return"
Old Man" fetch me some rice from your neighborhood, where there was no sorrow or death, then i will bring your son back alive"
Humble Man and Wife goes around their village asking for the same and didn't find one house who has not lost somebody or experienced no sorrow. He eventually returned empty handed to the old Man.
Old Man said smiling " Life and Death are in every being on this cosmos. You cannot change the course of life. One day your death will be grieved by your wife or you will her's"
Humble Man learned the lesson of life and returned to his duties.
The above short story tells that there Sorrow and happiness are unavoidable in Life and its again depicts that Heaven or Hell is a human perception. Lets imagine if all the departed come back and speak about where they went, you will have a clear picture on how the heaven is and how the Hell is.
Lets look at this in different perception. The definition of person with lots of friends and big family would imagine heaven as something where all his friends or family is around.He will not enjoy a place in heaven where he is sent to a lone island with crispy white sand and abundant food and Gold lying on the seashore where he doesn't have any friends to share his happiness with.
A person who was living in utter poverty and filth sent to hell will not feel much different in hell than what he went through in real life.
Ask yourself, what would be you definition of Hell or heaven and compare with friend of yours who has a different lifestyle. it would utterly different. if its so different between two close individuals, imagine how many probabilities of heaven and hell that can be phrased among 7 billion people in this planet, quite mind boggling isn't it??
So what is heaven ? is it predefined place and predefined set of things deep somewhere in cosmos or someplace deep in your mind.
So what is Hell ? is it fiery,burning underground of endless screams and human suffering ? Its somewhere lies in you experience of endless sorrow.
If both the heaven and hell are just a human perception with a probability of 7 billion what do we seek everyday until end of life and what do we run away from. I guess the answer is deep within your consciousness.
While you Meditate with full dedication and do things that surround you with happiness like charity or volunteer you surround yourself with endless happiness and create a heaven for people who are touched by your life.
When you express extreme anger,frustration,violence and verbal assault on people around you.Your body suffers in extreme sorrow and resents to the aftermath. You have created a endless hell for people who are victimized by your actions. You have created a hell.
The endless happiness lies deep beneath our consciousness and i have started experiencing every day you peel layers of your mind with transcendental Meditation and Goodness.It helps us get through tough times of stress and sorrow. It makes us more immune to others negativity. Its the only way you can seek the eternal bliss without any side effects. You embrace what is inside and stop looking at the cosmos. Its filled with gas,rocks and elements that we are all made off. Heaven and Hell are deep inside you and surrounds you when you are life.
Lets all seek eternal bliss and seek the eternal truth. Be Soulful. God Bless!!