Yogi Bhajan Lecture: Happiness

Excerpts from a lecture by Yogi Bhajan, October 11, 1989, Los Angeles, California

What is happiness? If the flow of the breath of life and the current of the life is strong enough, it will carry you through all unhappiness, all adversity, all challenges; you will swim. If your current is strong and your voltage is all right, and your filament is all right, and your vacuum is okay, and your cover is fine, you will be the brightest bulb in the world. If one thing is missing, you are out. If the outer casing blows up, you’ll be just smoke. If the filament gives out, there’s no current to pass through and no brightness can come.

There are things required to be a human, and to be a human, you require a clear mind. If the mind is not foggy, if it is clear, it can see the soul and take God’s light through that mind and project it; then you are a human. It is a simple flow of mind.

Life is a very tasteful thing. Life is a very enjoyable thing. Life is a very complete thing. Life is so infinite because it is part of that Infinity called God. The purpose of you is to recognize who you are. You are God. An artist is an artist. The art represents the artist. You are the art and God is the artist. You are the finite and God is the Infinity. God is the source and you are recourse to represent that source. Religion is a science of reality and the art of happiness.

When a totally complete, comfortable happy man touches an unhappy man, he brings happiness. Life is a sharing. We share our sorrows and we share our happiness. And if somebody is in sorrow, and we pour our happiness into that person, we make him happy. For that we need clarity of the mind. We need the strength of the soul. We need enlargement of our point of view. We need tolerance. We need courage.

You have the birthright to be happy. You are not happy because you are competing and comparative with something over which you have no control. You have no control over Infinity. And if you have no control over Infinity, don’t try to control it. Flow with it, you can reach anywhere. Fight with it, you’ll be unhappy. Happiness is your birthright. It cannot be taken away from you.

My question is, “Are you happy?” If you are happy, you are wonderful. If you are not happy, you are worthless to yourself. Unhappiness will create tragedy one way or the other for everybody. If there is anything that’s a sin or anything evil, it’s unhappiness. You spread it, you chew it, you cook it, you manufacture it. You share it, you create it, you give it to each other like an infectious disease. I don’t think syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, AIDS, or anything is as dangerous as the “touch of unhappiness.”

“Nobody wants me. Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me.” Is it human? Are you human? You are very simple, beautified gorillas. That’s what you are. You are not human. Human has an elevation. A mountain which is not high enough is not called “mountain.” You call it a “hill.”  A mountain is a mountain and when a mountain is constant, and consistent, it is called a “range.” You are just moles; you try to pretend. You have an exaggerated personal projection of your personality which you cannot control, you cannot deliver, and you cannot feel. You have become so insensitive to your own mental capacity. Forgive me. You have no sensitivity. When you talk to a person, you cannot put your personality in the other person’s shoes. You have absolutely no idea how to compute or feel what the other point of view is, what the other person feels, what the other person is going through. You want what you want. If you want what you want, you have no connection to be social. And man is a social animal. There has to be mutuality and there’s nothing mutual in you. Therefore there’s nothing real in you. Your biggest weapon is kindness and compassion. That requires intelligence and courage. That requires flexibility and intuition.

Our sentiments, our feelings, our psychology, our projection, our faith, our thoughts, our sex, our make-ups, they cannot make up for our inner happiness. And if the glass is empty, who can quench the thirst? If you are not over happy, you cannot share anything. You will just play the game. Happiness is a by-product of the totality of life which has to be shared compassionately and kindly with all. Some cups of life are empty. They have to be filled. And you must fill them. But you must have it to fill it.

You know two things: hurry and worry. You have sorrow today and you have a fear of tomorrow. You do not feel the presence of God. You did not feel it yesterday, you do not feel it today, and you don’t have a hope tomorrow. If you put your tomorrow in the hand of the One who created you, you shall not have sorrow.

You’ve got to accept everything, good, bad, better, best, rotten, or impossible. All is the property of God. Do you see that on some chain link fences it says, “Property of U.S. Federal Government. Trespassing not allowed.” Have you read that? On the roadside you’ll find those simple wires and there a simple plaque. You should put a plaque before your eyes. You should put a plaque on your ears. You should put a plaque on your mouth: “Property of Almighty God.”

Edited and reprinted from Beads of Truth, Winter 1989, #23 Volume 2

Watch the full lecture video here: