Existence, Awareness, Bliss: Why you shouldn’t seek happiness

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Many of us search for happiness in the external world. While we may attain it momentarily, it always fades and we are left in a cycle of perpetual seeking. In Hindu Vedanta philosophy, it is said that fundamentally, you are happiness and bliss. Our original state as human beings is described as Satchidananda. This is a compound word in Sanskrit and is broken down as such:

Sat ~ Being/Existence. Chid~ Awareness/Consciousness. Ananda ~ Bliss

Inherent within all of us is a deep, all pervading bliss. To realize this is said to be simple: we must untether our identification with thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations and simply rest with the bare experience of pure being.The difficulty is that we are so conditioned to attaching ourselves to our minds that this becomes an enormous task.

Notice what it is like to simply exist without identifying with the contents of experience. Instead of thinking about something, notice the qualities belonging to thought as a mental modality.

The nature of a thought is simply to arise and pass away. The Mahasatipatthana Sutta, a famous Buddhist text speaks at length on how realizing and embodying the truth of impermanence helps you realize your…