Are you really???

When I talk to people about how blissful we become after doing meditation, people generally ask, 'what do you mean, you become happy after meditation. Aren't we happy? Aren't we leading a happy life without meditation?'

They start defending their state. This has happened not just with me but many friends of mine who have started meditating. If we think for a moment, if we truly believe we are happy, why do we become defensive the very moment I say that statement? Many people who are reading this post might also be thinking on the same lines - 'do you think I am not happy without meditation?

Let me take a small detour and get back to these questions.

If we ask ourselves, how many of us can say honestly - I do not get worried, I do not get stressed out, I do not get anxious. I am sure all of us have these problems and yes, I mean all of us including me. I am in no better state than you are in :)

Now this brings us to the next question - does that worry, stress, anxiety affect us? When we are getting worried, how much of power are we giving to that worry? When we are getting anxious, how much does that anxiety control us? When we answer these questions honestly, we will see that our worries, our stresses, our anxieties, our happiness, our sorrows control us and this where a person who meditates will differ from a person who does not.

We can find three categories of people. I am sure each of us can surely relate to one of these three kinds.

The first kind would just love to be worried. One worry after the other, they keep on worrying. Lets say, one day they do not have money to do something and if by some means they get that money, then the next moment some other problem starts. They just love to be in the worried state.

The second kind is the category of people who know that they are getting worried but they do not know what to do about it and in this process they give power to that worry. They keep on saying - 'its so stressful. What can I do? There is too much work.' They know very well that they are getting drained out but at the same time, they do not know what else to do; how else to tackle it.

The third kind is the category of people who know how to just be a spectator when a worry bothers them. There is a difference between this category and the second category. Here when the person is getting worried, he floods himself with awareness. He is aware of the worry but he does not allow the worry to take control him. He just laughs at the worry instead of giving power to that worry. But in the previous case, he knows that he is worrying but he gives worry the power of attorney to control him.

Meditation helps us to fall into the third category. Intellectual people may call meditation useless or pointless. They think - 'whats the point of sitting for half an hour silently? What do you hope to achieve anyway by just sitting silently?' They just close the doors even before peeping outside and seeing the beautiful landscape outside.

Meditation brings in that awareness inside us. That is what I meant by my very first statement - how blissful we become after doing meditation. If you read it carefully, I said blissful and not happy. Bliss is a state when no external thing can control our emotions. Bliss is internal and happiness is external. Something goes according to our way, we are happy; suddenly it changes we become sad or we start to compromise or complain. But when we flood ourselves with awareness, we are within ourselves. We become a spectator to happening inside and outside us.

There is enough scientific evidence to prove this. If someone says -whats the point of sitting silently, let me tell you, that silence speaks a lot. I will write more on this in this next post but for now if you think you are happy, just think for a second - are you really???

- Sri Nithya Arpanananda