Highest Plane of Happiness
"No man can eat with the same pleasure as a famished dog or a wolf; so in the dog and the wolf the happiness is entirely in the body. In men we find a higher plane of happiness, that of thought; and in the Jnani (Wisdom of truth) there is the highest plane of happiness in the Self, the Atman." - Swami Vivekananda
A person who loves ice-cream yearns to go to the ice-cream parlour. The first ice-cream always tastes the best. As he keeps having more and more, the pleasure that he gained from the first one begins to wane until he begins to feel physically uncomfortble by the 7th or the 8th helping. Thus, the pleasure gained from ice-cream could not be sustained over a period of time. We can relate this back to any object one desires in life – after our happiness from the object peaks, it begins to wane.
What would be the most pleasurable emotion we could have? Probably it would be the experience of falling in love. So take the example of two people who fall in love and cannot dream of leading their lives apart from one another. Once their relationship evolves into marriage, we find that the peak of their happiness cannot be sustained. Each partner begins to see the other in a different light, and in time they find that no one can hurt them or make them angrier than the very spouse who also gives them so much joy!
However, when we experience Bliss from the soul, it is the most superlative quality of happiness and lasts indefinitely. Bliss cannot be verbally described and has to be experienced.
"No man can eat with the same pleasure as a famished dog or a wolf; so in the dog and the wolf the happiness is entirely in the body. In men we find a higher plane of happiness, that of thought; and in the Jnani (Wisdom of truth) there is the highest plane of happiness in the Self, the Atman." - Swami Vivekananda
A person who loves ice-cream yearns to go to the ice-cream parlour. The first ice-cream always tastes the best. As he keeps having more and more, the pleasure that he gained from the first one begins to wane until he begins to feel physically uncomfortble by the 7th or the 8th helping. Thus, the pleasure gained from ice-cream could not be sustained over a period of time. We can relate this back to any object one desires in life – after our happiness from the object peaks, it begins to wane.
What would be the most pleasurable emotion we could have? Probably it would be the experience of falling in love. So take the example of two people who fall in love and cannot dream of leading their lives apart from one another. Once their relationship evolves into marriage, we find that the peak of their happiness cannot be sustained. Each partner begins to see the other in a different light, and in time they find that no one can hurt them or make them angrier than the very spouse who also gives them so much joy!
However, when we experience Bliss from the soul, it is the most superlative quality of happiness and lasts indefinitely. Bliss cannot be verbally described and has to be experienced.
