Something we all want

Here is something we can agree upon: everybody wants to be happy.

It would seem that some people do not want that happiness for others, but for themselvs the desire for a state of inner comfort, happiness and tranquility is universal. We just don't want to worry any more.

When all the other basic needs of life have been filled – shelter, food and the like – this is what we seek: that state that will allow us to pause and reflect, to say, "We are there, we have attained happiness."

But what is happiness? Do we ever achieve it?

Happiness is not just laughter. It is not simply a smile of satisifaction. These might be manifestions of our happiness, but they are not the source. They are not the root.

And happiness, also, is not on the same level as joy. Joy is something greater, something different. It stands alone. There is happiness and unhappiness, but joy does not know unjoy.

Joy does not come from big meals, well-shined shoes and birthday presents. That is a happiness that is fleeting. The empty plates, scuff marks and extinguished candles are all that remain.

The joy that really counts, the joy that is our true goal comes only from inner peace. Its source is within, not without.

And that's something that everybody wants. For all time.


"The joy is not that you laugh loud. The joy is not that you’re always smiling. It is the stillness, the quietude within yourself, the peace of your being, of your spirit that asserts itself into vibrations which you feel. When you feel that peace, you feel like the light of the sun, the whole rays of that beauty spreading." (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi)