True Well-Being Is Beyond Momentary Happiness And Contentment

We think we are truly happy when in reality what we are experiencing are moments of pleasure, fleeting moments of what we think happiness is

True well-being is about beyond being happy and content because true well-being is beyond the wellness of the body and the mind. To begin with, most people confuse happiness with pleasure. We think we are truly happy when in reality what we are experiencing are moments of pleasure, fleeting moments of what we think happiness is. We think that happiness comes from the fulfilment of the desires of the body and the wishes of the mind; from success, name, fame and wealth. But the truth is that real happiness can never come from achievements; from things, from people or places. While we may have brief moments of joy when a desire is met, we are bound to experience sorrow again because we are likely to want something else and not all wishes are fulfilled. And therefore, we tend to feel disappointed. It is as if we are on a merry-go-round of pleasure and pain, loss and gain, sun and rain, again and again. We cannot ‘become’ happy; we have to ‘be’ happy, moment by moment. Happiness is not a state of becoming, happiness is a state of being.

In fact, even contentment cannot be categorised as well-being. Why? Because regardless of how satisfied we are with life, we will still suffer — we will continue to experience the triple suffering that everyone in this world experiences - the physical pain of the body; the misery of the mind, that is, fear, worry, stress; and the agony of the ego, which is anger, hate, vengefulness.

Complete well-being can only be experienced if we are enlightened with the truth — the realization that we are not the body, mind and ego - we are the Atman, the Soul - a Spark Of Unique Life. That God is a power, the Supreme Immortal Power and we are a part of this power, just like a wave is a part of the ocean. That the Supreme Immortal Power is everywhere, in everything. This is Enlightenment, it is the ultimate peak of happiness.

Well-being, thus, is about realizing the truth and living with the realization of the truth, the truth about who we are. We must contemplate— are we this body? The body dies. When the body dies, people say that we passed away, that we departed. The body is burnt or buried. It turns to dust. Who passes away? Who departs? Would our loved ones burn us if we were the body? No, of course not! Clearly, we are not the body. If we are not the body, are we the mind? Unlike the popular belief that the mind is king, the mind is actually our enemy. It constantly bombards us with thoughts, creating fear, stress, anxiety. We have to make the mind still by observing it. We have to watch it, catch it and latch it. We must tame the ‘MONKEY MIND’. We must bring down the number of thoughts it produces by bringing down the MTR, the Mental Thought Rate, from 50 thoughts a minute to 1 thought a minute. If we look at the word MONKEY, it has a tail, the EY. We have to cut the EY. The EY is Ever-Yelling and Ever-Yearning. When we tame the monkey mind, when we cut its tail, it becomes a MONK. Then, we achieve peace of mind. Otherwise, the mind itself robs us of our peace. Peace, we must understand, is the foundation of true happiness. If we contemplate, we will realize that the mind doesn’t even exist! Where is the mind? We cannot find. Mind is an illusion. We are, therefore, certainly not the mind.

It is in this state, when the mind ceases to exist, when we are without thoughts, that we reach the state of consciousness. In the state of consciousness, our intellect shines, and it is in this state of consciousness that we can realize the truth about who we are and consequently, experience true peace and bliss, true well-being, the state of Satchitananda - the state of Divine Bliss attained when we live with the consciousness of the truth.