The moment you realise that you are a child of God, you will let nothing affect you. All you need to do is forget yourself—and realise your true self as a child of God. When we forget this outer self and transcend the phenomenal, material world, we draw closer to the real, inner self, which is peace.

What is peace?

I may tell you what peace is in many words, but all descriptions will fail to make you understand it until you have felt peace in your heart. Like love, peace must be felt.

Many of us often ask ourselves, “Why is there no peace in our hearts?” God has blessed us abundantly; we live in comfortable homes; we eat good food; we have enough money to spend on necessities as well as a few luxuries. Why, then, does peace elude us?

A few days ago, a woman from Mumbai came to meet me. She belonged to a well-known and well-to-do family. She requested for a private meeting with me; and when I met her, she began to shed tears. She said: “Dada, there is one thing that I can’t come to terms with. I have money aplenty; there are servants to carry out my every bidding; we have several cars and bungalows; my children are very attached to me and pay attention to my every need and comfort. And yet—and yet, I know not why I am so unhappy! I feel so depressed that quite often I shut myself in my room and weep bitterly. I cry out to God in grief and frustration, ‘Lord, why is it thus with me?’ For God has given me everything—except happiness. Why, Dada, why is this so?”

All the comfort is not enough

This is the condition of many of us. We have everything we need—and we are still unhappy. What is the reason of this pervasive unhappiness in the world? Friends, the secret to happiness is peace of mind. He who is blessed with peace of mind is always happy—even if he is penniless and he owns nothing in this world. Saints, great souls and renunciates have nothing to call their own; yet they are radiantly happy. Such was the dervish who said: “Nothing in the morn have I and nothing do I have at night. Yet there is none on earth happier than I!”

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: “Arjuna, ashantasya kutah sukham? If man is not at peace with himself, how can he be happy?” The key to happiness indeed, the secret of true happiness is peace of mind. There is one way of achieving peace of mind. That is to attain the realisation that all that happens, happens according to the will of God.

God’s plans are perfect

Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani used to tell us, “God upsets our plans to set up His own. And His plans are always perfect.” If I have the faith that whatever has happened to me is according to the plan of the Highest, that there is some hidden good in it for me, I will not be upset! Gurudev also used to say, “Every disappointment is His appointment. And He knows best.”

Once you realise this, there is no more frustration, no more unhappiness. You abide in a state of tranquillity and peace. You may not be able to achieve this straight away. It is a process through which you must move. There are so many situations and circumstances in life that shatter our peace. But how long can we allow ourselves to wallow in sorrow and self-pity? The call of life is Onward, Forward, Godward! Men may come and men may go, but life goes on forever! Lives may come to an end, but life on earth must go on!

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My experience appeared to confirm it. My mind was full of thoughts and, try as I may, I could not keep them at bay. Like many others, I naturally assumed that I was not trying hard enough; I needed greater mental discipline, not less.

Peace, the natural condition of the mind

A quiet mind is not a state of mind to be achieved. It is the state we experience when there is nothing to be achieved. It is the mind in its natural condition, untarnished by fears and desires, and the thoughts they create. When everything is okay in our world, we feel okay inside; we are at ease.

Yet, even when all our physical needs are met, and there is no immediate threat or danger, we seldom feel totally at ease. More often than not, we experience the very opposite. Leave us with nothing to do and most of us start getting bored. If someone upsets us, we may hold a grievance for days, weeks, or even years later. Or we may spend hours worrying about situations that could occur, but seldom do. In short, we find ourselves upset, bewildered, excited, frightened, hopeful, or in any other of a host of states; in which we are far from content.

Along with such feelings comes an almost endless procession of thoughts. Most of them boil down to worries about how we can be more content; ironically, a mind that is worrying is by definition, discontent. This is the sad joke about human beings—we are so busy worrying whether or not we are going to be at peace in the future, we don’t give ourselves the chance to be at peace in the present.

Wrestling with the mind

Thinking does, of course, have its place and value. Without our ability to gather information, comprehend, reason, draw conclusions, imagine the future, determine outcomes, make choices and initiate action, we would still be swinging from the trees. Nevertheless, much of our thinking is totally unnecessary. And most of it runs in loops anyway.

So, given how easily such thoughts spring up and take us away from true contentment, it is only natural to think that they must be subdued and controlled. That approach, however, stems from the same belief that created them—the belief that we need to be in control of things in order to find peace of mind. Whereas it is actually the wanting to be in control that that takes away from the natural ease of the mind in its resting state.

By failing we succeed

Thus, the advice that occurs repeatedly in a variety of meditation traditions is:

1. When you realise you have been caught in a thought, accept the fact. Don’t judge or blame yourself. It happens, even to the most experienced meditators.
2. Instead of following the thought, as you might in normal life, gently shift your attention back to some experience in the present moment. In Transcendental Meditation that may be the thought of a mantra; in mindfulness, it is the sensation of the breath, or in other practices perhaps a visual image, or a feeling of love.
3. Let the attention rest in that experience. Don’t try to concentrate or hold it there. Ah yes, you will be sure to wander off again. But the practice is not so much learning how to stay present, but finding how to return to the present. If you wander off a 100 times, it is a 100 opportunities to practise gently returning your attention to the present.

Even then, trying and effort can arise in subtle ways. Maybe if I just added this or focussed on that, it would be easier. Some of it is so subtle, we don’t even notice that we are doing it. A faint resistance to an experience perhaps or even a slight wanting to have a good meditation can get in the way.

Effortlessness is the key

Over my 40 years of teaching meditation, I have found the greatest challenge for students is to let go of all effort. They can’t quite believe that they really do not need to try at all. Sometimes, even the most experienced meditators, with years of practice, may still put a slight effort or control into their practice. Once they let go completely, they begin to appreciate how effortless it can be, and find themselves dropping even more easily into a state of inner silence.

To this end, the focus of my teaching in recent years has been helping people weed out and dissolve even the subtlest levels of wanting, effort and expectation in meditation.

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