Regular connection with God eventually frees the soul from the influence of vices, and it is only after achieving this liberation that the soul can experience lasting happiness, say BRAHMA KUMARIS

Most of us go through life making various efforts to ensure that we have physical and financial security, material comforts and good relationships. The ultimate aim behind having all these is to live a happy life. Several factors contribute to the quality of our experiences in life. Learning is one of them.

Learning enables us to develop a broader perspective that helps in dealing with different situations and making better judgments. This helps us achieve success in our endeavours, which contributes to our happiness.

Then, if one is surrounded by happy souls who are caring and supportive, it provides an environment which helps in our healthy emotional development, making us similarly kind and helpful towards others. This makes for happy relationships and a contented life.

If the people one lives with are also upright and of sound character, that too provides us an added advantage as we are able to inculcate the right values at an early age, which keeps us on the right path in life. All of these factors go a long way in helping us live a happy life. But by no means do they provide a guarantee of happiness.

It is said that if happiness is not in one’s destiny, one will never experience it, even if one has all the trappings of a happy life, and one who is destined to be happy will be so with little. There are numerous instances of men and women who had wealth, power, fame and even a loving family, but they were still unhappy because of a flaw in their character.

The character defect caused them to say or do things that were not right. If the seed is defective, what will it produce? Happiness cannot be bought, achieved, or consumed. It is the result of virtuous actions. As the law of karma tells us, we reap what we sow. Happiness flows from purity, peace, love, truth, and generosity. If I am living these virtues, I will naturally experience happiness.

On the other hand, if my life is bereft of virtues, true and lasting happiness will remain a mirage that I will keep chasing without success. As Christ said, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The fault here does not lie in the rich man’s affluence, but in the arrogance and spiritual poverty that often come with too much wealth.

To cultivate virtues, I have to first realize the truth that I am a soul. The virtues are intrinsic to the soul. When I live with the awareness that I am a soul, the virtues are expressed in my thoughts, words and actions.

When I mentally connect with God, the father of all souls and the ocean of virtues, His qualities begin to flow into me. When the soul is thus replenished with power and virtues, the old weaknesses begin to lose their hold on it. Regular connection with God eventually frees the soul from the influence of vices, and it is only after achieving this liberation that the soul can experience lasting happiness.

(Source: Purity Magazine)

Brahma Kumaris is the largest spiritual organisation in the world led by women. It was the founder, Prajapita Brahma Baba, who chose to put women in the forefront. Founded in India in 1937, Brahma Kumaris has spread to over 140 countries and has had an extensive impact in many sectors as an international NGO. However, their real commitment is to helping individuals transform their perspective of the world from material to spiritual.

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