Questions on Spirituality—Ask Swami Mukundananda

In today’s world we find ourselves occupied with the pressures of work, family, ambition and recognition. There is a constant struggle to achieve more and move forward in the hope of a happier life, but amidst this blinding race some of us stop and ask ourselves the purpose of this struggle. We vehemently seek answers for why things happen the way they do and it is this search for true knowledge that leads us to different sources.

But the true source of knowledge is one that stand’s the test of eternal time and provides perfect answers, not merely to satiate the material senses but also our inner selves. Perfect knowledge is that which gives everlasting joy and contentment to its receivers and expounds the true position of every human being. The ancient Indian scriptures like Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita etc are reservoirs of this absolute knowledge and Swami Mukundananda uses perfect logic to explain their philosophy and extract’s the essence of Divine Love from them. He also quotes from other great religions to satisfy even the most discerning knowledge seekers.

While conducting spiritual programs around the world Swamiji realised that people are anxiously searching for answers to remove their inner doubts regarding life, duty, philosophy and the scriptures. And primarily these questions follow a repetitive pattern, i.e. the basic doubts are often similar. For the benefit of aspirants we will be presenting spiritual knowledge by Swamiji in the form of a series of simple questions and answers which will help dispel doubts and myths in anyone’s mind.

In today’s article we have a collection of questions that aspirants commonly ask on ‘how to deal with the world’. Subsequently different topics will be discussed by Swamiji to help everyone progress towards a more spiritually fulfilling life:

(1) Why is there no permanent happiness in this world?

Answer: Every living being is incessantly searching for happiness. This search is natural to our being, since we are eternal parts of God, Who is the ocean of Divine Bliss. It is not that Krishna contains happiness and they are separate, He is happiness himself. Therefore our search for happiness is unknowingly the search for God. Upon attaining Him alone can the soul experience the unlimited Divine Bliss that it is hankering for.

But we souls are searching for happiness in this material realm, which is not possible. Shri Kripaluji Maharaj says that there are three conditions for true happiness; it should never go away, it should be unlimited in nature and only grow with time. But as we see for ourselves, that the happiness we experience in this world is transitory; a person who buys a motor bike feels elated of his new possession but is disheartened again to see a wealthier person with a car. Therefore till the time we do not realise God and attain divine love our futile search for true happiness in this material things will continue.

(2) My mind is constantly revolting while accepting that there is no happiness in material things. Is it OK to go through these experiences and then conclude that there is no happiness, otherwise how will we know there is no happiness in it?

Answer: If you adopt the modus operandi of experiencing everything first before deciding that there is no happiness in it, your whole life will pass in this endeavour given that there are innumerable things in this world. For example to decide that there is no happiness in consuming alcohol, is there a formula regarding how long will you consume alcohol before concluding? As human beings God has bestowed us with the most developed subtle intellect among all living organisms, which can help us in making decisions even without experience. Merely by intellectual discrimination, without seeing or experiencing, humans are expected to reach a conclusion that there is no happiness in the world.

(3) I am easily hurt if people insensitively criticize me, the way people behave with me deeply affects my mood. How can I insulate myself from reacting to other people’s negative behaviour with me?

Answer: The solution is to develop a better understanding of the world based on scriptural knowledge. The Vedas say that this material energy, Maya, consists of three gunas (modes of material nature): sattva guna (the mode of goodness), rajo guna (the mode of passion) and tamo guna (mode of ignorance). Everyone’s mind is made from material energy Maya, and so the three modes exist in our minds as well. Depending on the environment and where we focus our thoughts, one of the guna becomes prominent and our mind takes on the quality. Our mind constantly oscillates between the three and when two people with divergent gunas meet it causes strife. Congruence can happen only when two people have same gunas but it is unreasonable to expect that they will match constantly.

The reason for our anxiety is that we expect everyone to think in the same manner as we do. And when this does not happen we get disturbed. Instead if we would realise that people will naturally have differing views due to the modes of material nature, we will not be disturbed.

So by increasing our understanding of the world, we can insulate ourselves from the fluctuating moods of others.

(4) Why should we love God instead of our parents, spouses, children and other relations? If God sits in everyone’s hearts then why can I not simply love them?

Answer: It is important to first understand that we are the soul and not this body and hence our eternal relation with God. These worldly relations are temporary and will cease to exist the day we die, we have had innumerable such relations in our past lives but we don’t remember them. But God is eternally situated in our hearts and does not leave us even for a minute. He is our eternal Father, Mother, Friend and Master and that is why scriptures tell us to love Him and develop our eternal relation with Him.

Swami Mukundananda is a world renowned spiritual teacher from India, and is the senior disciple of Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj and founder of JK Yog. He has received his degrees in engineering from world renowned institutes in India, IIT and IIM. He has inspired people all over the world on the path of spirituality, holistic health, yoga, meditation, service to society and God realization. For details: www.jkyog.org

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