The Blessed State - Revealing the Personality, Chapter 5 by P. Rajagopalachari

THE BLESSED STATE

In spirituality we say, “The happy man is one who is happy under all circumstances.” He is unconditionally happy - happiness which is unconditioned by anything. 

Because if you are conditioned in your happiness, when that condition is removed, you are going to be be miserable. This is what is happening in today’s world. I have a car. It has an accident and I am miserable. I have a friend and, when he passes me on the street, he does not even look at me, I am miserable. 

So you see, conditioned happiness is no happiness. We have to rise beyond what we call the temporal level of happiness where we are conditioned by the weather, by our friends, by our relatives, by our job, by everything, and go beyond.

Now, spirituality says this is possible by being permanently in touch with what is inside you - your inside, your God, your Father, your Self. If in that remembrance, you do anything, what you are doing has no impression upon you. You know, a common example is when you are deeply absorbed in a book that you are reading. Suddenly, you look at your watch and say, “By Jove! It’s three o’ clock!” You started reading at eleven. The passage of time has not left any impression. People walking outside your window has not left any impression. You have been absorbed in a book but, unfortunately there, the book is absorbing you; you are not absorbed.

Spirituality says, the inner state - if you are able to look at it, if you are able to establish contact and retain contact with it - is permanently absorbing. Therefore we have experiences during meditation of people who come out of it after one hour and say, “You know, I don’t know what happened today, but I was gone, I was lost and I suddenly woke up and found nobody in the meditation hall. Everybody had left.” It happens. It will happen to you too. 

So that state is what, in various religions, people call the blessed state.

— Taken from the book, "Revealing the Personality (2nd edition, 2009)", 

Chapter "Talk to New Abhyasis", pg. 36, by Shri. Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari

In his talk to new abhyasis of Sahaj Marg, Chariji makes yet another profound revelation. Many of us experience joys and sorrows in our lives and the state of our heart and mind sways with the outer circumstances like a flower stalk in the wind. But a truly happy person is one who is happy under all circumstances. His heart remains cheerful and at peace even when he is surrounded by the most difficult of circumstances. 

But how can one achieve this state? 

By connecting to the heart and remaining immersed in it throughout. Which is what happens during meditation. The current SRCM President, Shri Kamlesh D Patel, advises Sahaj Marg abhyasis to experience the condition of the heart after meditation, become immersed in it, retain it and make it grow. When we practice this, we realize that we can be in that state of stillness and immutable peace throughout the day, irrespective of what happens around us. 

Now the next question arises: Can we be in the state of meditation for an hour, let alone throughout the day? 

Yes, we can. 

But, as Shri Kamlesh Patel tells all new aspirants, the best proof is the individual experience. Each person can try for themselves - relax, meditate and experience the infinite beauty of the heart and how a heart-based existence can be a blessed existence full of peace and unconditional happiness.