Pleasure is Counterfeit Happiness

So states the title to Chapter 4 of God is for Everyone (the new book inspired by Paramhansa Yogananda, as taught to and understood by his disciple Swami Kriyananda) in describing the first step of the soul towards its ultimate destiny, Bliss. Pleasure is passive, received through the medium of the senses in contact with matter. Its reward is brief and fleeting—indeed fatiguing to the senses if over indulged. Pleasure plays us false, for it tricks us into thinking we can receive happiness passively. Pleasure is self-indulgent and inclines one therefore to be contractive. Ironically, those who live wholly for pleasure are never happy. Worse yet, the long-term effects are negative and can include premature aging, fatigue, and disillusionment.

Yet even pleasure requires some degree of awareness: the proverbial “happy clam” more likely experiences only a vague feeling of comfort, perhaps while eating. Vertebrates, however, can take pleasure in their special gifts: leaping, flying, singing.

But human beings can affirm happiness even in the face of adversity using will power and determination. A saint, moreover, drawing God’s grace in response to his dedication and devotion, might endure great suffering while yet experiencing the bliss of his soul. Bliss, though received from “above” requires strength of character and purity of heart.

Pleasure can excite the mind, or bring release, while happiness is calm. The Bhagavad Gita states “To the restless person, happiness is impossible.” Happiness goes on nourishing one’s enthusiasm. The happy person is aglow with ever-fresh, inner energy. His nerves not frayed by excitement, he can cope effectively with every situation. He doesn’t meet every crisis with a sudden adrenaline “rush,” but with the calm address of one who is in command of himself.

Nonetheless, because any increase of energy induces a heightened sense of well-being, even excitement can masquerade as happiness. But in the end it is exhausting—as are all human emotions, for excitement draws its power from outward expectations, not from the source of energy in inner bliss. Excitement moreover can actually diminish one’s capacity for appreciation: imagine trying to enjoy a panoramic view while excitedly trying to describe it!

Excitement over-stimulates the nerves, while happiness calms them. Pleasure, excitement, the intensity of release – these are like poison – irritants which in small doses can stimulate but which with continued use over time can “kill”. Those who equate happiness with excitement find, in the end, a deep sense of purposelessness. Moods and depression are the inevitable balancing act.

Pleasure, then, is indeed a counterfeit. Like counterfeit money, it may be circulated safely for a time, but after that it destroys one’s happiness. Counterfeit money, as even governments discover if they over-inflate their currency, destroys wealth. The counterfeit “money” of pleasure, similarly, if “circulated” too freely, destroys one’s wealth of inner happiness. Excessive sensory indulgence depletes one’s powers, to the point where one finds himself incapable of replenishing them, for his connection with the self within has been severed.

A simple rule for a long and happy life is this: Be always calmly happy, and happily calm; calmly active, and ever actively calm.

The new book, God is for Everyone, is expected to be available this Fall. In November we have scheduled a three-part Wednesday night class series, taught by a team of our ministers, plus a fourth talk (Friday, November 21) by visiting ministers Jyotish and Devi Novak! We expect, further, to be able to offer the new book at the Ananda mandir store on a special sharing basis: “Each One, Reach One.:” buy one and get a second copy free to give to a friend!