#215 Three types of happiness (according to the Bhagavad Gita)

Happiness or Sukha is the pleasure or joy that is experienced. Bhagavan Krishna teaches us that even our happiness can be three-fold depending on how one gets it, how long it lasts, and the degree and nature of the sukha. Hence, all of these determine whether the sukha is sāttvika, rājasa or tāmasa.

Sattva, rajas and tamas are the gunas of mayashakti which is the shakti of Brahman, the limitless being. The entire world of manifestation is due to trigunātmika maya shakti. The world of forms is  made up of permutations and combinations of these gunas.

Quickly, sattva is purity, is illuminating and is free from affliction. It binds (one) by connection to (subtle form of) pleasure and connection to knowledge. Rajas is in the form of a colouring (of the mind), causing longing and well-entrenched attachment. It totally binds the indweller of the body by connection with action. Tamas, is born of ignorance and causes delusion for all those who have bodies. It binds (the person) completely by indifference, slothfulness and sleep.  

What does Bhagavan Krishna say about three fold happiness?

सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं श्रृणु मे भरतर्षभ।
अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दुःखान्तं च निगच्छति।।18.36।।

Listen to me now, Arjuna, the foremost in the clan of Bharata! about the three-fold happiness. That in which one discovers joy by repeated practice (of meditation) and gains the end of sorrow…

यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम्।
तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम्।।18.37।।

…which in the beginning is like poison (and) when there is transformation, is like nectar, that happiness is called sättvika, born of the clarity of self-knowledge.

The sāttvika sukham is that in which one revels in by practice, abhyāsāt ramate yatra. The joy that one discovers by the repeated practice of shravanam, systematic study of the shaastras, mananam, resolving all doubts and nididhyāsana, seeing the unnegatable reality of oneself,  is sāttvika sukham.

In the learning of Vedanta, certain repetition is involved, and that repetition brings not boredom, but a sukha, a saattvika sukham. It is not discovery of a joy, which will be lost in time, but one in which one gains, a resolution of sorrow that is centred on the Atma. The ‘I’ that is ever present is released from the various notions that give rise to a sense of sorrow. The sorrow of having taken oneself to be a limited being comes to an end, by recognising that the nature of oneself is sukha.

The pursuit of sāttvika happiness may be painful in the beginning and is said to be like poison. When a person begins this pursuit of self-knowledge, which is moksha, she finds it difficult because she is beginning to address himself. Prior to the pursuit, the person kept oneself busy doing one thing or the other, which always brought some gratification.

When there is gratification, one does not see the pain, which drives one to search for gratification, all the time. That is why, when one begins to turn the attention towards oneself, we always feel that we were better off before. But that is not true. If indeed you were better, what is wrong now? After all, you are still yourself; that has not changed. In fact, you were not better; you were just not addressing your problems.

Now when you turn your attention towards yourself, the sorrows you never gave a thought to, the thoughts you never even thought you had, all come up because you are addressing them. It is like poison in the beginning because one requires vairagya, maturity, dispassion, objectivity, understanding your mind, etc., as it is, and dropping all of the past in handling all these that come up. All these things are not ordinary. They require a lot of self-searching, which is not easy; it is a painful process. Therefore, in the beginning a spiritual pursuit is fraught with pain. That pain is likened to poison which tastes horrible and seems as though it is going to destroy you. You do not want to take it. But we have to gain knowledge, dispassion, and a capacity to contemplate, for which a lot of effort is required in the beginning, and therefore, it is painful. Then again, we have to follow values such as ahimsa, non violence, satyam, trutfulness, santosha, contentment, tapas-religious disciplines etc which are difficult initially, but then it becomes spontaneous.  

We have just returned from a glorious Vedanta camp in Rishikesh on the banks of the Ganga.   The schedule is intensive yet relaxed – waking up early in the morning for pujas, attending classes back to back, and then, there is no progress in the subject matter! The first day the guru said you are Brahman and after several classes, the guru says the same thing.

Vedanta sadhana and study also implies sitting with yourself in meditation. That is all right for five or ten minutes, but suppose you have to sit for one or two hours, it is a problem. And so we say in the beginning it is like a poison. But once you have come to terms with yourself and are happy with yourself as you are, and have learned to live a disciplined life, there is maturity.

You have taken care of your emotions, let go of the past, and can just be with yourself as you are. When whatever is to be done has been taken care of, what happens?

On transformation it is like nectar, when there is this change, in the mind, there is a happiness which  is born of maturity in terms of understanding, dispassion, and so on. This dispassion, vairägya, is not a will based denial but a natural objectivity born of understanding. The happiness, sukha, which is born of that maturity is like nectar. Why nectar? Because it immortalises you. It never goes away because it is born of the clarity of knowledge of Atma which is free from time. If it is born of an object, it will definitely go away in time.

Ātma-buddhi means a mind which has knowledge of the Atma. Hence there is a prasāda, a clarity like that of pure placid water which is so clear that you can see the sand and all the pebbles of different colours on the bottom. The purity of the mind is like the water that flows, finding its way no matter what comes in its path, not resisting anything. Even if there is a big stone in the way, the water goes around it, and if there is a big valley, it just fills it up and proceeds. It does not bother about what is in front, but keeps going, never being caught up anywhere. The purity, the fluidity of this water is such that it lives a life of absolute non-resistance. A mind with this kind of purity does not resist anything, even itself. It has the attitude, ‘Whatever it is, it is alright; let it be so.’ That is atma-buddhi-prasāda, the glad acceptance of whatever is.

Self-knowledge itself is a prasāda, blessing, and the sukha that arises from that is not dependent upon any object or even a condition of the mind, because it is knowledge, jnana which is the same as being. All that is necessary for that knowledge has been taken care of, which is why in the beginning, it is said to be like poison, which transforms into nectar. That sukha, in terms of the mind is called sättvika because the predominance of sattva-guna in the mind.

Then what is rājasa happiness

विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेऽमृतोपमम्।
परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम्।।18.38।।

That happiness (arising) from the contact of a sense organ with its object, which in the beginning is like nectar and when it changes is like poison, is considered rājasa.

Rājasa sukham is the simple kick that you get because of the contact of the sense organs with their sense objects. The foods we taste, the fragrances we smell, the beautiful sights we see, the music and pleasant sounds we hear, the touch of different fabrics and people. If those sense objects are desirable, sukha is born. In the beginning it is like nectar, in the sense that it is easy. After all, the contact of the sense organs with desirable objects does not require any preparation of the mind. It is purely a perceptual sukha, which even an animal can pick up. Because it is so very simple and very desirable, it is said to be like nectar. But then, a change takes place. This kind of enjoyment makes us dependent on them which means that only if these objects or favourable situations are there, I am happy. It destroys the very capacity of the body to enjoy. These enjoyments cause the destruction of one’s strength, beauty, knowledge, wisdom, wealth, and enthusiasm. How?

A person who indulges in sense pursuits destroys his strength both in terms of his health, bala, and the powers of the sense organs.  As a person ages, there is a natural loss of health and of the power of the sense organs to enjoy, which is accelerated if one abuses the body. Even though sensory pleasures seem to be very simple to acquire, in the long run, they are not easy to get at all because the sense organs, on which they entirely depend, are not as powerful as they once were. And eventually, that sukha will not exist at all because the sense organs will finally depart altogether.

A type of self-worth is generated from the admiration of others based on one’s appearance. But the beauty on which that is based cannot be retained and in the very process of enjoying it, you lose it. A person engaged in sense pursuits will hardly find any time to think about anything of dharma and adharma, atma and anatma and therefore, there is a loss of discriminative knowledge, and in the process, memory, the capacity to retain things is also destroyed. Then of course you have to pay for your pleasures; so wealth, dhana, is depleted.

Enthusiasm also goes away because either you cannot get the same thing again or you have to make further effort to get it again, and when you do get it, there is an anti-climax. It is never like the first time. Or, you do not want it again and you have to look for something else. It is amrta in the beginning, when you get it, but later it is lost, momentary experience being what it is, and that leaves you with a dukkha.

Then the capacity to make effort for sense pleasure becomes depleted; it wanes away. When the change, takes place, it becomes like poison. Once the mind is incapable of enjoying, or the sense organs, or the body, or things that are necessary to enjoy, like money, are not available, sukha is not possible. And since you do not develop viveka in a life of sense pursuits, when you reach sixty or seventy years of age, there is no capacity to appreciate the leisure of old age. At that time, you cannot suddenly develop the viveka required to make retirement a blessing. One just wistfully talks about all the enjoyments of a younger age. If you maintain viveka throughout your life, retirement will help; otherwise, it will be a tragedy. This is rājasa sukham, like nectar in the beginning and like poison when it changes.

While the sāttvika sukham is like poison, in the beginning in the sense that it is unpleasant since it implies certain discipline on the part of the person, it ends in the form of nectar. This rājasa  sukham, on the other hand, is very desirable in the beginning, but painful in the end. If your only pleasures are sense pleasures, you have to get them, no matter what, and inevitably there will be compromises in dharma.

The consequences of those compromises can only come in the form of dukkha. Therefore, it is said  that these pleasures are like poison in the end, because they are the cause for unpleasant experiences born of wrong actions, adharma.

Then what is tamasa happiness?

यदग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं मोहनमात्मनः।
निद्रालस्यप्रमादोत्थं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम्।।18.39।।

That happiness, which in the beginning and at the end, is self-deluding, (and) born of sleep, laziness, and indifference, is called tāmasa.

This is a happiness, which initially, and later also, involves the delusion of the person. It is the happiness you experience- in sleep. Though there is some sukha in sleep, the mind, is not awake to experience it. You cannot say there is no sukha in sleep, but at the same time, it is completely overwhelmed by tamas, total ignorance, and therefore, there is no positive appreciation of sukha, even though you can say there is absence of dukkha.

In deep sleep, you become one with your own nature, svarüpa, because you are the only person that is there; atma-ananda alone is there. Even though you become the ananda which is nature, svarupa, of yourself, at the same time, there is no recognition of that whatsoever because the mind is overcome by tamas. Therefore, this is called tāmasa sukham.

Then there is another sukha, which is because of laziness, ālasya. When you exert no effort, you are free from the pain, dukkha, which is implied in doing things. That is also tāmasa sukham.

There is a similar kind of sukha born of indifference, pramāda, towards things that are to be done. And often this is accompanied by a justification that you should not put pressure on yourself, that you must always have enough time for yourself. If not doing what is to be done is able to give you sukha, it definitely is tāmasa sukham. An incapacity to do something that is to be done is a different thing altogether. But when you are indifferent to what you can do, and do not even worry about it, that is tämasaà sukham. There is some sukha because you are avoiding the pain of doing it.

The purpose of understanding these three types of sukham is not to add yet another judgment to oneself. It is to understand the non-lasting nature of rajasika and tamasika sukha and to align more with the sukha that comes from understanding one’s own nature as Ananda.  

Can one do away with these gunas?

There is no existent being either on the earth or, furthermore, in heaven among the gods, who is free from these three gunas born of prakrti.

And hence while the body-mind form is a product of these gunas, one is aware of them and is ever free from them.