Wisdom And Blissful – In Gita Verse 5.20 A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, who is un-bewildered, and who knows the science of God is already situated in transcendence.
Krishna is saying that the person who is self realized only can live blissfully. They are not happy or unhappy, they are just blissful. Wisdom is significant only when it is blissful, and blissfulness is meaningful only when it has wisdom in it. Both can exist separately but then they are not meaningful.
Bliss is not even happiness. What we call happiness is psychological. Whenever you find a certain moment of elation your ego is fulfilled, you feel happy. You have become the president of a country, you feel happy – but only for the time being, because your ego is fulfilled. You have defeated all other competitors, you have arrived; where others have failed, you have succeeded . . . or you have much money, power, prestige, fame. But soon one becomes tired of it all.
A person can be very happy and foolish – maybe happy because he is foolish, maybe happy because he cannot understand the complexity of life, because he is below understanding so he is not aware that misery is implied in life. He is happy because he is ignorant… just like children or like animals.
Idiots are happy; there is no worry, there is no problem because they don’t have yet the mind to worry. To worry one needs intelligence. Animals don’t worry and don’t go crazy and don’t need the psychiatrist’s help; for that intelligence is needed. So a fool can be happy but his happiness is not of much worth.
On the other polarity; is a so-called wise man – very knowledgeable, very serious, very intellectual, even intelligent, but not happy. Then what is the point of being wise? The whole point is missing! Then your wisdom is far worse than the foolishness; at least the foolish are happy! What can one gain out of knowledge if there is no bliss in it? And this is what happens almost always.
To create a synthesis: one should be wise and happy and blissful, wise and dancing, wise and singing, wise and celebrating. Only then does one arrive home and can on feel real life, the fragrance of life… One can detect the presence of god.
Two things – happiness and wisdom – are needed to detect the presence of god. These two things balance each other.
By practicing self-awareness you are putting this in your consciousness: on the one hand try to become more and more alert, aware, more intelligent, more sensitive, so wisdom arises; on the other hand become more and more relaxed, more dancing, more playful, so blissfulness arises. And always keep balance….
It is very easy for the mind to move in one extreme direction; the mind is an extremist. When the mind has to choose between two polarities it is very ready to choose one. Never choose one: either don’t choose or choose both together. And that is how one goes beyond the mind – because that is very difficult for the mind to manage; it cannot manage. In the very nature of things it is impossible for the mind to manage two extremes together.
So Buddha has given one of the greatest methods of meditation – what he calls ‘the middle way’. Always keep in the middle: whenever there are two extremes, keep in the middle, keep balanced, and you will go beyond the mind, because the mind exists only in extremity.
This polarity – anand and wisdom, bliss and wisdom. And you have to be just in the middle, just the gap between the two, the empty space between the two. On one hand is blissfulness, on the one hand is wisdom, and you have to be just in the middle.
In the beginning it will be difficult but soon you will have the taste of it… and even a glimpse is a tremendous insight. When you are wise in any moment and yet blissful, you will suddenly see the beauty of it.
Krishna says – Remember only one thing: whatsoever feels good is good, whatsoever feels beautiful is beautiful, and whatsoever makes you joyful, gay, delighted, is truth. Let that be your only criterion. Don’t be bothered by others’ opinions. Let this be your only touchstone – whatsoever makes you happy is bound to be true. Ananda, bliss, is the only criterion of truth, transcendence.
Tags: Wisdom And Blissful
