What You Consider as Happiness Is Only Relief from Grief

When it is summer you like ac. When it is winter you like heater. What if the heater is turned on when it is summer?

The heat or cold on their own are not giving you comfort. It is conditional, depends on what condition you are in. It is relieving you from a state of discomfort and grief – that is what is giving you happiness.

It is the state of grief your body is in, which when relieved gives you the so-called happiness. It is not happiness, it is relief from grief and distress. This body can not give you happiness. It can only come to grief, distress, and then come out of it to give you the apparent feeling of happiness.

Going into the prison and coming out is what you think freedom is. You don’t know the real freedom.

Your body needs to create first grief in the form of thirst, hunger, fear, to give you that apparent happiness when you are relieved of it. Is this happiness?

The more you have, the more worried you are. The more money you have, the less is your peace of mind. How many of our millionaires are behind bars, how many have run away? Not just because of greed, greed combined with the fact that they have.

The more your connections are, more are your troubles. You know how difficult it is to raise one or two children these days. Imagine raising ten children. The more you have, the more is your trouble.

The bigger your family, more is your grief. Every time a relative passes away, you are sad. Every time someone falls sick you are sad. When you don’t have, you are sad. When you have, what you have is giving you only sadness. You don’t realize this.

This life on earth can never give you real happiness. People say it is better living in the west, apparently, don’t know for sure. At least in a restricted sense, the standard of living is more in the west. Only after people started going there and living there we came to know about this. People who experienced living there. People who have seen both parts of the world. When they say, we accept.

Our sages have seen these other worlds, spiritually evolved places where the experiences are quite different from what is there on earth. There you don’t need to create pain to experience pleasure afterwards. Pleasure has its own independent existence. It does not depend on pain as a precursor to exist.

When the sages say these planes exist and anyone can go there, they are telling out of their own experience.

Prahlada is telling the other asura boys. Don’t think that we are just boys now. When we grow up, we will make effort towards the ultimate goal. When you grow up, your senses will conquer you, control you, you will go after sensory pleasures, you will say we have responsibilities to fulfill, so many things to take care of. Then you will become old. You will lament, I am old, my body is weak, what can I do now.

Don’t let this happen. This is the time for you to understand this and work towards the ultimately auspicious goal. If you understand what I have told you, start remembering Sri Hari, think about him day and night.

It doesn’t require too much. Not that you have to observe severe austerities braving heat and cold. Just keep on remembering him day and night. That is your way out of this trap called samsara, and path to the most auspicious, most sought after destination. This will take you out of all your miseries.

• Is happiness just relief from discomfort?
  Yes. Most of what we call happiness is the vanishing of a prior itch — hunger, heat, boredom, fear. When the trigger returns, the so-called happiness collapses.

• Why does the body keep me on a treadmill of needs?
  The body runs on cycles: create lack, push you to fix it, give a short reward, repeat. It is designed for survival, not lasting peace.

• If comfort depends on context, can any object give real happiness?
  No. The same thing can comfort or torture depending on conditions. So the source is not in the object; it is in the state of your system.

• Do more possessions increase freedom or anxiety?
  They increase anxiety. More to guard, more to maintain, more to lose. Gains add attachment and fear, which tax the mind.

• Do more relationships always mean more joy?
  They bring warmth and meaning, but also multiplied worry, grief, and obligations. Without inner stability, quantity amplifies suffering.

• Is worldly success a reliable path to peace?
  No. Status and wealth scale responsibility and risk. They solve some problems while birthing new, heavier ones.

• If switching places promises happiness, why do migrants report mixed results?
  Because external upgrades improve comfort, not the root restlessness. Without inner clarity, dissatisfaction relocates; it does not retire.

• Can there be joy that does not require prior pain?
  Yes. Higher states of consciousness report joy as a baseline, not as a rebound. There, joy is intrinsic, not a recovery.

• How do we know such states are real?
  Consistent testimony across disciplined seekers, verified through repeatable inner practice, points to stable, non-dependent joy.

• Why start spiritual work early?
  Habits harden, duties pile up, senses gain momentum. Early practice builds a foundation before life’s inertia sets in.

• What is the minimum viable practice?
  Continuous remembrance of Bhagavan — a steady, quiet return of attention. No theatrics needed, only consistency.

• How does remembrance change this cycle?
  Attention anchors in what is not tossed by gain and loss. Needs still arise, but they stop dictating your inner weather.

• Is austerity necessary?
  Useful, but not mandatory. Sincere, constant remembrance purifies more reliably than sporadic extremes.

• What is real freedom, then?
  Freedom is not moving from one cell to another. It is seeing that your peace does not depend on temperature, taste, praise, or profit — and living from that center.

• What practical first steps can I take today?
  Pick a short name of Sri Hari, repeat it through the day, tie it to cues like walking, waiting, or worry. Read a few verses morning and night. Track attention, not outcomes.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi