Self-Realization Fellowship Blog

Paramahansa Yogananda on Finding Happiness

November 01, 2019

Paramahansa Yogananda Last Birthday

Inspiration from the November eNewsletter

This month we share inspiring thoughts from Paramahansa Yogananda on how to find happiness “by clinging to the simple, true, and lasting soul-joys.”

Many people may doubt that finding God is the purpose of life; but everyone can accept the idea that the purpose of life is to find happiness. I say that God is Happiness. He is Bliss. He is Love. He is Joy that will never go away from your soul. So why shouldn’t you try to acquire that Happiness? No one else can give it to you. You must continuously cultivate it yourself.

It is important to differentiate between your needs and your wants. Your needs are few, while your wants can be limitless. In order to find freedom and Bliss, minister only to your needs. Stop creating limitless wants and pursuing the will-o’-the-wisp of false happiness.

Happiness is not dependent on external circumstances; rather, it is to be found in the simpler joys of life, and most of all in the ever new bliss of deep meditation....Be happy by clinging to the simple, true, and lasting soul-joys. They come by deep thinking, introspection, spiritual inspiration, and meditation.

God has proven that when He is with me all the “necessities of life” become unnecessary. In that consciousness you become more healthy than the average person, more joyous, more bountiful in every way. Don’t seek little things; they will divert you from God. Start your experiment now: make life simple and be a king.

When you sit in the silence of deep meditation, joy bubbles up from within, roused by no outer stimulus. The joy of meditation is overwhelming. Those who have not gone into the silence of true meditation do not know what real joy is.

In this video excerpt from the DVD Fulfilling the Soul’s Deepest Needs, Sri Daya Mata (1914–2010), third president and former sanghamata (“spiritual mother of the society”) of Self-Realization Fellowship, with warmth, humor, and penetrating insight discusses the key to finding inner peace and happiness in today’s technology-driven world.

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