What is True Happiness?

At times we need to ardently indulge in stillness and silence.  That is the only time we can hear what our inner voice is telling us.
 
I posted this article before in another blog.  It is so profound that I am posting it again here.  It is sourced from the Metta Lodge Johor Bahru facebook page.  It was a talk given by Bro Punna.

In our culture it is easy to confuse pleasure with happiness.

Pleasure is derived from things like a fine meal, sex, live theatre, a vacation, or a new car. The advertising industry, in fact our entire economy, is devoted to stoking our desire for new pleasures. While these things are enjoyable, and should be enjoyed, they are not the same as happiness. If we are not truly happy and we look to sensual pleasures for fulfillment, we will never find that spiritual completeness for which every human naturally longs. The desire for physical objects or external experiences will never be extinguished. When we finally acquire something we have been striving for, we will experience a temporary satisfaction, but we will soon want something more. Even when we get what we want, there is always the fear of losing what we have.

We love praise, success, pleasure and fame and hate their opposites. But when we are holding onto a stick there is always a danger of grasping the wrong end. As they say, the main cause of divorce is marriage. Think of all the dualities: health-sickness, life-death, young-old, rich-poor etc.

True happiness is uncaused and is not dependent on external objects or experiences.

You are happy for no reason at all. Happiness is our natural state. Only our attachments and burdens draw us away from our most natural state of being.

To acquire happiness you don't have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired. Does anybody know why? Because we have it already. How can you acquire what you already have? Then why don't you experience it? Because you've got to drop something. You've got to drop illusions. You don't have to add anything in order to be happy; you've got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It's only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings.

- Bro Punna -