Wisdom Alone Brings You Out Of Misery

Once I visited the ex-president of a country at his home on his invitation. He had retired just a couple of days back at the time. When I reached, he asked his waiter to bring some beverages for all of us present there, but the waiter got a bit delayed in getting them. The ex-president took it personally and said to me, ‘Look, Gurudev. When I was president, he followed my orders immediately. Now, he doesn’t respect my words.’ I just smiled and told him, ‘It is all in your own mind.’

The happiness that comes from talent or skills that you develop, or the positions you hold in society, stays only for some time. Unless you realise who you are, long-term happiness remains a far-fetched reality.

Understanding The Mind

Intellectually, you already know all these things, but when that moment comes when the negativity comes like a flood, it just overpowers you. You cannot control your emotions from the level of the mind and intellect alone.

Just forcing positive thoughts on oneself isn’t enough. Medication like antidepressants also seems to help only in the beginning and eventually can lead to dependence rather than freeing him/her from the tendency.

Spiritual Wisdom And Happiness

In the long run, only spiritual wisdom can take you out of despair and misery. External pomp and show, wealth, admiration and adulation don’t help deal with inner discontent. The spirit of self-enquiry in the true sense is essential in this quest for happiness. You can bid goodbye to misery by connecting with an altogether different dimension, which I would say is solidified silence, a bolt of bliss, and a glimpse of eternity, which is in you, as you. You simply have to tap into it, and the means to achieve it is meditation.

Meditation also helps bring harmony within yourself. With meditation, you can apply the brakes to this buzzing mind. With meditation, some silence from time to time, and Sudarshan Kriya, a special breathing technique, the source of negativity is nipped at the root.

The Science Of Breathing

There is little use in having a machine without a manual. Spiritual knowledge and spiritual practices are like the manuals for life. To move towards stability of the mind, you must know the basic principles about the life force energy. This is the whole science of breathing techniques, or pranayama. When the prana, or life force, keeps fluctuating, the mind also goes up and down through the roller coaster of emotions.

This is where knowing the secret of breath can really transform lives. Breathing techniques stabilise your life force and consequently the mind. The inner dimension unveiled by the practice of meditation deeply enriches you, and its impact slowly spills over to all aspects of life. As prana rises in the body, one starts to feel a transformation as direct experience and not as a forced mental exercise. One starts becoming happier, creative, and more in command of their mind and emotions.

Published on: Saturday, October 10, 2026, 07:00 AM IST