Krishna: Non-Fluctuating Happiness
What exactly is non-fluctuating happiness?
Who desires it?
How interesting and satisfying is it in comparison to moods and emotions like love, which have variation and interesting sensual interest.
Lord Krishna explained his view in this way (my English translation):
bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā = bāhya — external + sparśeṣv (sparśeṣu) — sensation + asakta — not attached + ātmā — soul; vindatyātmani = (vindati) — finds + ātmani — in the spirit; yat — who; sukham — happiness; sa = saḥ — he; brahmayogayuktātmā = brahma — spiritual plane + yoga — yoga process; yukta — linked + ātmā — spirit; sukham — happiness; akṣayam — non-fluctuating; aśnute — makes contact with
The person who is not attached to the external sensations, who finds happiness in the spirit, whose spirit is linked to the spiritual plane through yoga process, makes contact with the non-fluctuating happiness. (5.21)
ye — which; hi — indeed; saṁsparśajā — coming from sensual contact; bhogā — pleasures; duḥkhayonaya = duḥkha — pain + yonayaḥ — sources; eva — indeed; te — they; ādyantavantaḥ = ādy (ādi) — beginnings + anta — ending + vantaḥ — possessed with; kaunteya — O son of Kuntī; na — never; teṣu — in them; ramate — delights; budhaḥ — a wise person
The pleasures that come from sensual contacts are sources of pain. They have a beginning and ending, O son of Kuntī. A wise person never delights in them. (5.22)
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Even though many Buddhist authorities do not affiliate Buddhism with Hinduism, still it is a fact that Gautam Buddha began and perfected his meditation process while he was in India. In fact two primary teachers before he struck out on his own, were in India. Many of their mental disciplinary approaches were integrated into the Buddhist process which he enunciated.
The underlying themes of the Bhagavad Gita are from the Upanishads and the Samkhya yoga system which was current in the time of Krishna and which Krishna explained to Uddhava in the Uddhava Gita., an extract from the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Buddha’s ideas about traumatic psychological experiences are summarized in the first sentence of the second verse above which reads:
The pleasures that come from sensual contacts are sources of pain.
However if this stands to reason, it still does not prevent a person from pursuing those pleasures. There are five senses and of these five there are variations in application to their sensual objectives. The conversion of pleasure into pain is not always evidence. The format of pain may be experienced by the person as pleasure as in the case of persons who have perverted tastes. Pain may be experiences as pleasure. Hence the performer will only see the pleasure and not realize the pain content. Or he may realize it long after experiencing its covert form as pleasure.
The long ranged vision to see the beginning as well as the ending of a sensual contact is something that Gautam Buddha obviously had but despite the claim to being buddhas in their own right, many other human beings do not experience such insight and must rely on scriptural statements and experiences of Buddha or people like him, for the concept of unfavorable consequences to all pleasurable sensations which come from sensual contact.
Some sensual contacts are gross. Some are abstract. Some abstract forms carry a physical completion energy which compels the person to complete acts physically. This is epitomized by rebirth in a new body because of lacking the means to extract full satisfaction on the astral planes.
The other day a friend called to discuss an incidence where he travelled on a train in a big city. During the trip he saw a woman whom he was attracted to. Later during the night he felt a strong compulsion to find the woman for physical association. Of course that was not possible because he did not have a name or address of this person who lived in a city with millions of other human beings.
He spend the entire night in a sleepless state, with anxieties and mental dominance regarding meeting the woman physically. Why did this happen? As he told me about it. I felt fortunate because usually, my psyche does not require such physical completion. And when it does, occasionally, I can operate on the psychic perception side with more emphasis while the physical is also completed but with very little focus invested.
What a place this world would be if for every subtle contact a physical conclusion was mandatory?
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Lord Krishna felt that pleasurable feelings which are not perpetual which have a beginning and end, and which tail off in unfavorable traumatic experiences are not worth the while.
Can we wholeheartedly agree with this? Buddha agreed with this view but do we really subscribe to this?
