I am a great believer in happiness being a state of mind or I should say consciousness since the state of mind is open to our manipulation and the way we perceive our sufferance. But Consciousness is beyond Mind or Spirit and its natural state is of all the nouns or epithets you care to conjure that are in essence the epitomes of goodness, well-being and the wonder of life as I see it.
This is without doubt our natural state, sadly though we tend to look for the downside the negative and unnatural in everything. I don’t really understand why that is. Having said that there are those amongst us who do not seem to be concerned with the little inconsequential things and just get on with life, a bit like our distant cousins in the natural world, while the negatives spend their lives allowing themselves to become concerned about every little thing.
Me? Well I’m a visual person and I find beauty mostly in nature but also in the attempts of others to emulate that multitude of forms, colours and varieties. But not so keen on modern art or music which to me signifies a troubled spirit, I’m more of a Victorian realist when it comes to painting, as my art master accused me: I paint every blade of grass!
I love life and have given it my all in whatever guise I have propelled myself, and am told, have done so in all incarnations! I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have never understood the way folks become infatuated with soaps on the TV as if their own lives are not interesting enough, or perhaps they need someone they can criticise with no come back! I spend my leisure moments delving into histories, discoveries and documentaries. Not that I have the best memory in the world and history was not my strong subject at school, but admit to an unquenchable thirst for knowledge in the hopes that some wisdom may rub off on the way!
In trying to control my mind and understand how and why it behaves the way it does, I hope to become more mindful of my responses and reactions which at times seem to have little minds of their own especially when replying in haste. But my happiness is sometimes overpowering especially for others who do not understand my exuberance, noise and flagrant disregard for convention at times, and yet within that I do insist on a little decorum at times. Ha ha!!
Believe Me, your nature is Sath-Chith-Ananda (Existence, Consciousness and Absolute Bliss). That is why you behave in the way you do. You desire to exist for ever; you enjoy life and avoid all talk of your own death. That is enough evidence to conclude that you are Reality in essence (Sath-swarupa). Then, again, you are filled with wonder and curiosity and a desire to know the world around you. You ask continuously what, why, how and when, about all and sundry. This is the prompting that is given by the Consciousness (Chith). Lastly, you are always seeking joy and try to avoid grief. It is your nature to do so, for you are essentially Bliss. When someone asks you, “How do you do?” and you answer, “Quite well, thank you,” they do not stop to enquire why you are well. It is only when you answer that you are ill, you are further questioned anxiously. “Well-ness” is natural; “illness” unnatural. Anxiety is caused only by the unnatural. So, in essence you are happiness.
So says Sai Baba in his:
– Divine Discourse, Mar 13 1964.
Love and Happiness David.
clear
Angel Messenger 
As usual, dear David, you and Sai Baba are so very right. The natural state of all creation on this Blue Planet is bliss but through the century, or should I say through the billions of years, we have “learned” to worry about tomorrow and then also about yesteryear. As someone wisely said ..” Yesterday is long gone, tomorrow is not yet, and today is a present we should not let escape for it is the only thing we are sure of and still, eventually, can modify.
I consider myself as a pessimist and that’s also why I have always tried, since childhood, to jailbreak from what could make me feel sad by reading and laughing at what so many consider slapstick comedies… I realized very quickly that I had to find an outlet for my congenital sadness, but unfortunately, I could not find it in myself. I always had to look for the hidden treasure outside my own brain.
I confess that I tried to understand why my spirit was so full of gloom when the sun was shining or the stars were bright in a moonlit sky. I love music, most kind of sounds and I easily feel drawn to dance and I noticed that moving my body brought some balance in my brain (strange ?..well, yeah!),
In my native country, Belgium, there is a saying : ” Whatever the cup, as long as it gives a joy! ” and I should learn from these wise maxim and put them in practice.
Life is too short to be wasted and every minute counts.. whether to work or to relax…so I do promise myself I will do my best to avoid feeling sad ( or worried) about matters that are beyond my own potential and involved the free will of others.
Thank you David for sharing with us the wisdom of Sri Sai Baba.
Love and Light I send you and to all those who will read this post.
Eugene.