1.     True happiness consists in killing selfishness.

2.     The man who realises, “I am He”, though clad in rags, is happy.

3.     That man alone who is the lord of his mind can be happy and none else.

4.     Everything in the universe is struggling to complete a circle, to return to its source, to return to its only real source, Atman.

The search for happiness is a struggle to find the balance, to restore the equilibrium.

Morality is the struggle of the bound will to get free and is the proof that we have come from perfection.

5.     Happiness is only found in the spirit.

6.     ‘This whole universe is my body; all health, all happiness is mine, because all is in the universe.’

7.     Hold your mind free. All this that you see, the pains and miseries, are but the necessary conditions of this world; poverty and wealth and happiness are but momentary, they do not belong to our real nature at all.

 

8.    Become a True Optimist

Control Everything

Vedanta philosophy……………takes things as they are. It admits that this world is a mixture of good and evil, happiness and misery, and that to increase the one, must necessity increase the other. There will never be a perfectly good or bad world, because the very idea is a contradiction in terms………….It does not say that this world is all evil or all good. It says that our evil is of no less value than our good, and our good of no more value than our evil. They are bound together……………but beyond and behind all these manifestations, the Vedanta finds out that Unity. It says, “Give up what is evil and give up what is good”. What remains then? Behind good and evil stands something which is yours, the real you……………and it is that which is manifesting itself as good and bad. Know that first, and then and then alone you will be true optimist, and not before; for then you will be able to control everything. Control these manifestations and you will be at liberty to manifest the real “you”. First be master of yourself.

 

9.     Happiness and misery are only in the senses, they cannot touch our real Self.

10.  Happiness belongs to him who knows this oneness, who knows he is one with this universe.

11.  There is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by this attitude of non-offensiveness, to all creation.

12.  Man has his happiness in his intellect.

13.  DO NOT IDENTIFY YOUSELF WITH ANYTHING. Hold your mind free. All this that you see, the pains and miseries, are but the necessary conditions of this world; poverty and wealth and happiness are but momentary; they do not belong to our real nature at all.

14.  Pleasure is not the goal of man, but knowledge. Pleasure and

15.  Happiness comes to an end. It is a mistake to suppose that pleasure is the goal. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that men foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal to strive for. After a time man finds that it is not happiness, but knowledge, towards which he is going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers, and that he learns as much from evil as from good.......................Good and evil have an equal share in moulding character, and in some instances misery is a greater teacher than happiness. In studying the great characters the world has produced, I dare say, in the vast majority of cases, it would be found that it was misery that taught more than happiness, it was poverty that taught more than wealth, it was blows that brought out their inner fire more than praise.

16.  After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains--one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither happiness nor misery. These are states, and states must ever change; but the nature of the Atman is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it; only wash away the dross and see it.

17.  Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage.

18.  Desire, want, is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by the laws of success and failure. Desires must bring misery. The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the person who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.

19.  The animal has its happiness in the senses, the human beings in their intellect, and the gods in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes beautiful.

20.  The meditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come. It is only the contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings to us real enjoyment and happiness.

21.  When I Asked God for Strength
He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face

When I asked God for intelligence
He Gave Me Puzzles to Solve.

When I Asked God for Happiness
He Showed Me Some Unhappy People

When I Asked God for Wealth
He Showed Me How to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Favors
He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Peace
He Showed Me How to Help Others

God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted
He Gave Me Everything I Needed

22.  THE HAPPIEST IS THE MAN WHO IS NOT AT ALL SELFISH.

23.                         Real happiness is not in the senses but above the senses.

24.  All over the world it is the wise man who enjoys the happiness of the world.

25.  Happiness is not in this heaven or in that heaven, it is in the soul.

26.  Machines never made mankind happy and never will make.

27.  Be the witness and do not react, only thus can you be happy.

28.  Both attachment and detachment perfectly developed make a man great and happy.

29.  Renounce and be happy.

30.  What is the world that is to be given up? It is here. I am carrying it all with me. My own body. It is all for this body that I put my hand voluntarily upon my fellow beings, just to keep it nice and give it a little pleasure; [all for this body] that I injure others and make mistakes.

31.  In real meditation you forget the body. You may be cut to pieces and not feel it at all. You feel such pleasure in it. You become so light. This perfect rest we will get in meditation.

32.  Those who die, merely suffering the woes of life like cats and dogs, are they human beings? The worthy are those who, even when agitated by the sharp interaction of pleasure and pain, are discriminating and, knowing them to be of an evanescent nature, become passionately devoted to the Atman. This is all the difference between human beings and animals.

33.  Pleasure is not the goal of man, but knowledge.

34.                         Stand upon the Self, then only can we truly love the world. Take a very, very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world. It is but baby’s play, and we know that, so cannot be disturbed by it. If the mind is pleased with praise, it will be displeased with blame. All pleasures of the senses or even of the mind are evanescent, but within ourselves is the one true unrelated pleasure, dependent upon nothing. It is perfectly free, it is bliss. The more our bliss is within, the more spiritual we are. The pleasure of the Self is what the world calls religion.

35.                         THE ENJOYMENT THAT YOU ARE SEEKING IS ONLY IN THE PEACE; AND PEACE, IN THE RENUNCIATION OF PHYSICAL PLEASURE.

36.  All the misery we have is of our own choosing; such is our nature. The old Chinaman, who having been kept in prison for sixty years was released on the coronation of a new emperor, exclaimed, when he came out, that he could not live; he must go back to his horrible dungeon among the rats and mice; he could not bear the light. So he asked them to kill him or send him back to the prison, and he was sent back. Exactly similar is the condition of all men. We run headlong after all sorts of misery, and are unwilling to be freed from them. Everyday we run after pleasure, and before we reach it, we find it is gone, it has slipped through our fingers. Still we do not cease from our mean pursuit, but on and on we go, blinded fools that we are.

37.                         The more our bliss is within, the more spiritual we are. Let us not depend upon the world for pleasure.

38.  We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life.

39.  There is nothing beyond God, and the sense enjoyments are simply something through which we are passing now in the hope of getting better things.

40.  Give up all desire for enjoyment in earth or heaven.

41.  Karma Yoga is a method of purifying the mind through work. ... All fear and all desire to enjoy here or hereafter must be banished for ever by the Karma Yogi. The karma without desire of return will destroy the selfishness, which is the root of all bondage. The watchword of the Karma Yogi is "not I, but Thou," and no amount of self-sacrifice is too much for such a person.

42.  “Comfort” is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being “comfortable.”

43.  “The earth is enjoyed by heroes”—this is the unfailing truth. Be a hero. Always say, “I have no fear.”

44.  Give up all desire for enjoyment in earth or heaven. Control the organs of the senses and control the mind. Bear every misery without even knowing that you are miserable. Think of nothing but spiritual freedom.

45.  Renunciation is the very basis of our true life. Every moment of goodness and real life that we enjoy is when we do not think of ourselves.

46.  Do not give up the world; live in the world, imbibe its influences as much as you can; but if it be for your own enjoyment’s sake, work not at all.

47.  This life comes and goes------------wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to die like a world worm. Advance!

48.  We are here to know the truth, not for enjoyment.

49.  He who chooses enjoyment misses his true end.

50.  Enjoyment lies not in physical development, but in the culture of the mind and the intellect.

51.  Search for enjoyment is vain.

52.                         The secret of life is not enjoyment, but education through experience.

53.                         Enjoyment, misery, luxury, wealth, power, and poverty, even life itself, are all evanescent.

54.  ONLY THE FOOLS RUSH AFTER SENSE-ENJOYMENTS. It is easy to live in the senses. It is easier to run in the old groove, eating and drinking; but what these modern philosophers want to tell you is to take these comfortable ideas and put the stamp of religion on them. Such a doctrine is dangerous. DEATH LIES IN THE SENSES. LIFE ON THE PLANE OF THE SPIRIT IS THE ONLY LIFE, LIFE ON ANY OTHER PLANE IS MERE DEATH; THE WHOLE OF THIS LIFE CAN BE ONLY DESCRIBED AS A GYMNASIUM. WE MUST GO BEYOND IT TO ENJOY REAL LIFE.

55.  Happiness presents itself before man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head. He who welcomes it must also welcome sorrow.

56.                         Achieve happiness or achieve greatness.

57.  Knowledge and happiness lead to freedom.

58.  Fear ceases, and then alone come perfect happiness and perfect love.

59.  Every act of love brings happiness.

60.  Always keep your mind joyful; if melancholy thoughts come, kick them out.

61.  Mental pleasures are greatly superior to physical joys.

62.                       You have not caught my fire yet--you do not understand me! You run in the old ruts of sloth and enjoyments. Down with all sloth, down with all enjoyments here or hereafter. Plunge into the fire and bring the people towards the Lord. That you may catch my fire, that you may be intensely sincere, that you may die the heroes' death on the field of battle--is the constant prayer of Vivekananda.

63.  This hideous world is Maya. Renounce and be happy. Give up the idea of sex and possession. There is no other bond.

64.  The ignorant man never enjoys.

65.  Our pleasures are always changing.

66.  The happiest moments we ever know are when we entirely forget ourselves.

67.  The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.

68.  Those who die, merely suffering the woes of life like cats and dogs, are they human beings? The worthy are those who, even when agitated by the sharp interaction of pleasure and pain, are discriminating and, knowing them to be of an evanescent nature, become passionately devoted to the Atman. This is all the difference between human beings and animals.