Pleasure is followed by pain and so someone has rightly remarked that “Our sweetest songs are those that tell us of saddest thought.”
What to talk of having permanent bliss, we don’t know what it is! The momentary pleasure derived from the material objects are misunderstood as bliss so much so that we cannot have a sigh of relief without these false pleasures which are usually followed by pain. But in reality the permanent bliss is with us. It is our birth right. We have completely forgotten it. Having the possession of a gold mine of Permanent Bliss, we are looking for the glass beads of false pleasures of this ephemeral world. We are like fisherwomen who could not sleep in an orchid of fragrant flowers full of their sweet smell. The story runs as follows:-
Some fisherwomen were coming home after day’s work and lost their way. Evening fell and they happened to come into an orchid covered with the sweet smell of beautiful flowers. As night approached they lay down but could not sleep. A few hours passed but none of them could have a wink of sleep. An elderly fisher woman got up and picked up an empty basket where fish were kept. She poured water on it and put the basket where the fisherwomen were lying. As soon as the bad smell of the fish swept away the sweet smell of fragrant flowers, they all went to sleep. Exactly is the same condition with all of us. Endowed with Permanent Bliss which knows no sorrow or misery, we are looking for happiness in the objects or persons of the world which is eternally changing. Everything in the world is undergoing a change. At one time, one man is highly honoured, then another takes his place and so on, day after day and year after year. One family rising into ascendancy becomes unknown after some time and then another takes its place and so on. This is how the change takes place all the time in this evanescent world. You realize your true nature through meditation; you are Knowledge, Existence and Bliss; you are the repository of Permanent Bliss, you are He as He is the only one in all beings.
Swami Ji says, “Through meditation, you will find that He, the source of Permanent Bliss is not far away from you. You have no responsibility to anybody but to yourself. You commit heinous crime to yourself if you lead a miserable life when He is with you all the time. Nay, you are He as there is nothing but He alone is the Supreme Existence. It is not your duty to worry or hurry about any business; your only occupation or duty is to keep yourself self-contained, self-possessed and self-pleased.
Meditation will provide you Permanent Bliss. You will come to realize that the aim of life is to keep your own self always blissful and cheerful, independent of all surrounding circumstances, irrespective of gain and loss. Your highest duty in the world is to keep yourself blissful and your duty to yourself demands of you again to keep yourself happy in all states. Be true to yourself and enjoy you own Permanent Bliss which does not depend upon any outer object. Never mind anything else in the universe. All other things are bound to bow down to you, yet what does it matter to you whether they bow down or not, you are blissful by yourself.
To be dejected and gloomy is a religious social, political and domestic crime. Be full of serenity and dispassionate tranquility and permanent bliss (always remembering and staying in your true nature) and you will find all your surroundings and environments accordingly as like comes to the like.