Happiness - You Know You Want It. Here's How I Get It.
Hare Krsna!
Most of us live into some verion of “If only I had or did x I could be happy”
Thinking from this paradigm will always create disappointment because happiness is experienced in the present and in the realm of being. Happiness has literally nothing to do with having or doing. We are human beings.
Doing, Having and Being are distinct realms. Doing is about performance and action. Having is about acquisition and “owning things”
Being is about experience and mood. It’s the future we’re living into.
Being is free.
In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying, “Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving liberation.”
In the beginning of creation Krsna made men, demigods and things for them to do, the doing of which would produce everything needed for happiness. Sacrifice is both an action and a way of being.
What I take from this verse is that Krsna knows us better than we know ourselves and He has created us with an inbuilt disposition to serve therefore He created specific ways to serve that when performed in a joyful spirit we will all be happy, peaceful and prosperous.
The yajna or sacrifice to be performed in the Kali Yuga or the age of quarrel and hypocrisy is called sankirtan. Sankirtan means chanting the names of Krsna in a group. It’s basically a spiritual mosh pit. Some devotees even make actual mosh pits in the name of sankirtan. Watch the videos below to get a taste of what I’m talking about.
This aint some Sunday thing where you sing sentimental songs and then the rest of the week you’re like everyone else in the mass consensual trance of illusion…
Listen to the kirtan in the ‘podcast’ of this news letter to get a sense of what kirtan is!
Here’s the literally mosh pit I was talking about:
If you’re interested in participating in kirtan you should search up your local Hare Krsna community and ask them when the next kirtan event is.
In Whangarei we do kirtan every Friday and Sunday and my wife and I are planning 2 events at the Hare Krishna Community Center which will include kirtan, yoga and dinner. Reply to this email if you’d like to attend or sponsor one of the events.
Art
This piece shows Loveheart man on a lotus spraying the holy name of Krsna and a scroll that reads “This name and the named are the same” which is about how the Lord descended into this world in the form of His name so we can access His association.
Happiness - You Know You Want It. Here's How I Get It.