by Swami Kriyananda
Meditation is supposed to bring us to the highest happiness, to bliss. But is that possible if in daily life we hold a heavy, grey, and grim attitude? No, it isn’t. This is why Yogananda taught: “Be even-minded and cheerful at all times.” He added: “Work on yourself: on your reactions to outer circumstances. This is the essence of yoga: to neutralize the waves of reaction in the heart (yogas chitta vritti nirodha). Be ever happy inside.”
Swami Kriyananda similarly taught that an evenly happy attitude during daily life is one of the keys to successful meditation:
The secret of meditation is…
affirming contentment,
rather than expecting God to do all the work
of bringing you out of darkness
into His infinite light and joy.
Music is a brilliant way to stimulate such contentment and happiness. A number of Swami Kriyananda’s songs, in fact, brilliantly express inner JOY, both through their lyrics and melody. They are “Philosophy in song,” and often great fun.
One time a woman confronted him: “Well, you can write happy songs. You’ve never suffered!” His reply was, “It is because I’ve suffered, and learned the lesson of pain, that I’ve earned the right to sing happy songs! For true happiness isn’t something one feels only when things are going well. The test of it is its power to transcend suffering.”
So welcome to his musical course in Happiness. Each song teaches us a special secret.
Musical Lesson 1
Choosing Joy Always, Everywhere
“There’s joy all around us! Why wait till tomorrow? We’ve only this moment to live. A heaven within us is ours for the finding, a freedom no riches can give!
Listen to: “There’s Joy in the Heavens”
Swami Kriyananda: “The secret of happiness is the determination to BE happy always, rather than wait for outer circumstances to make one happy.
~~~
Musical Lesson 2
Finding Joy Within
“Joy will come to anyone whose soul has learned to fly.”
Listen to: “The Secret of Laughter”
Swami Kriyananda teaches us: “The secret of happiness is the innocent enjoyment of simple things.
~~~
Musical Lesson 3
The “Mirror Concept”
“For I find that this whole world around me, like a mirror upon the wall, smiles back when I smile, looks blue when I’m blue, and that blue shade I don’t like at all!”
Listen to: “The Non-Blues”
Swami Kriyananda: “Remember, the universe is, for each human being, both a mirror and an affirmation.”
~~~
Musical Lesson 4
Being Able to Set Troubles Aside
“Mañana, friends, the world will still be there: a world of suffering, a world of care. Today we’ll dance and tell the universe, there’s love and song for everyone. Fling joy, like roses, on the laughing wind, send melodies upon the air! Tell everyone that joy is theirs alone who smile at life and call it fair.”
Listen to: “Manana, Friends”
Swami Kriyananda: “Be able to laugh at difficulties!” And: “Laughter is a medicine you’ve got to use to drive away blues.”
~~~
Musical Lesson 5
Playfulness
“Haliki pa weha, Hanalei peha… The truth is, it’s sheer gibberish… I have written, hmmm, something that purports to be Hawaiian, but it’s not. And I even had the chutzpah to write a translation in English.”
Listen to: “Hawaiiana”
Swami Kriyananda: “That’s what life is for, to find that joy in yourself.”
~~~
Musical Lesson 6
Joy is the Best Grief-Healer!
“Let Joy sing out today! Dawn now is breaking, and the mountains say: it’s only light can make the darkness run. Lift up your head, greet the rising sun!”
Listen to: “Come Gather Round”
Swami Kriyananda teaches: “When you know that nothing outside you can affect you-no disappointment, no failure, no misunderstanding from others-then you will know that you have found true happiness. Resolve strongly to keep this flame burning ever in your heart.”
~~~
Musical Lesson 7
The Joy of God
“Sing out! Sing out with joy! God’s light has descended! Sing out! Sing out with joy! All our nights have ended.”
Listen to: “Sing Out with Joy!”
Swami Kriyananda: “The secret of happiness is worshiping God everywhere, in everything.
~~~
Let’s finish with a prayer from one of Yogananda’s Whispers From Eternity, read by Swami Kriyananda.