Achieving happiness by raising awareness

We all experience different kinds of mental agonies (mental pain) in daily life; only intensity
and extent vary.  Therefore, Bhudha said ‘Dhukka’ (misery) is the basic feeling and state of
mind of human beings.

We have taken pain (denotes mental pain) as part and parcel of our daily life or part of
normal life. Many people may be willing to spend any amount of money or any amount of
effort if they can have life without pain? This is the solution everybody is seeking during
their entire life so that peace and joy can be achieved and experienced.

Pain also means absence of happiness or joy.  Pain appears in different forms – mild or

intense like uneasiness, mood off, boring, hurt, anger, tension, stress, fear, anxiety etc.  In
that sense every negative emotion is a form of pain.  When we look at ourselves closely, we
will realize that some of these negative emotions are there always with ourselves.  It means,
most of the time, we are experiencing some form of mental pain which in turn means most
of the time we are unhappy. As this is common to all in different degrees people take it
granted as natural which is untrue.
If we ask somebody, what is the goal of life, almost all will answer directly or indirectly which
indicates ‘happiness’ as the goal.
How do we achieve the goal of being happy?  By earning more money or higher positions or
through achievements of material possessions?
Have you seen anybody fully happy or contented after having achieved these things? In
many cases, on achieving these goals, problems increase and thereby pain!
It reveals us the truth that happiness is not something to be achieved through something or
one cannot become truly happy when some conditions are met with.  True happiness is a
state within us which is manifested or experienced only in the absence of pain and when
you are fully PRESENT.  As the intention of this passage is to address the pain aspect, we
will concentrate more on it.  We have seen that presence of pain means absence of
happiness like presence of darkness means absence of light.  To put in a different way,
when we are fully present, there is no pain or problem.
When somebody talks about a state of mind or life with no pain or problem, it is hard to
believe or accept.  Many discard it as theoretical or not practical.
Pain has become an unavoidable part and parcel of our daily lives, so we even do not see it
as a distant possibility.
In other words, we can say that when we are fully conscious or present, there is no pain,
which means absence of consciousness or our unconsciousness or lack of spiritual
awakening and development is the cause of our pain.  Little hard to believe?
Let us look more closely, is it our unconsciousness or in simple terms our foolishness,
causing our pain?
Again difficult to digest; then  how come the  so called intelligent people  are having
probably more stress and pain in life.?
The truth is the level of intelligence or education or social position is not bringing in a
corresponding level of self consciousness and thereby happiness.  Therefore, there is a
trend of increasing stress related problems with these groups.
The root cause of pain is lack of awareness and consciousness. There are innumerable
programmes and solutions available in the public domain offering solutions to control and
manage pain; but not addressing it at the root level or not insulating people from stress or
pain and hence not sustainable.

Pain is created because of the typical pattern of thinking, feeling and emotionally reacting
as learned from childhood and life situations, which can be called as a programmed mind.
To put in simple examples, suppose in a train journey somebody calls by abusive words
and you feel hurt and angry. Then you realize that he is a mad person. Your anger and
hurts fades away. Or you are hurt by a stone thrown by somebody, you get angry and
infuriated. When you come to know it was by mistake by a three year old child you come
back to normal state quickly and smile. Or you are suffocated and pained in a fairy dream,
and while woken up and realized it’s a dream, a smile comes on your face.

The truth is that the pain is mitigated or resolved and you are back to a state of mental
equilibrium when there is a higher level of awareness and consciousness.
In short a higher level of awareness and consciousness achieved through spiritual
development is the only solution for sustainable transformation and to be free of pain in life
and this passage is an attempt in this direction through a process of MIND ENGINEERING.
As a part of the mind reengineering process it is required to have a close look inside
and become aware of various wrong beliefs which cause our pain.
A state Transformation and Freedom from Pain is achieved when one becomes aware of it,
experiences and starts living in this state of conscious awareness. Therefore re-reading and
meditation with an open mind are advised in the case of some readers until one achieves a
state of conviction and higher level of consciousness.