In Search of Happiness

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“The world is a place of happiness for everyone,” that was her message. She sent her New Year’s greeting in Gujarati. Curious, I used a translation program because I wanted to understand. It sounds beautiful. Too beautiful, I think.

Gujarat is a state on the west coast of India, just below Pakistan, almost as large as Austria. A region that devotes itself intensely to the worship of gods like Krishna, Rama, and Ambe with poetry, music, and devoted Bhakti Yoga. Hinduism plays a major role in Gujarat; it is considered one of the great world religions, or rather three, as it is a collection, an encyclopedia of different religious and philosophical concepts. There isn’t just one god, but many gods, whose rank and appearance change. For me, that’s out of the question, far too opaque. A young woman was literally captivated by it.

“The world is a place of happiness for everyone.” Really?

Would a Ukrainian say that on a freezing night of war? Or the women who have to live completely veiled under the Taliban regime without a public voice? The child whose parents constantly fight violently. The young woman who is kidnapped and forced to work in prostitution under the control of pimps. The Christian who is severely persecuted for his faith. The child who is kept in a cage in Asia and rented out for sexual services to tourists. The elderly people who no longer receive visits and live their lives plagued by poverty, loneliness, and illness. Are they happy?

The teenager who bends over backward not to be laughed at. Adults who have more than one job to make ends meet… I find that this concept cannot withstand reality and offers no solutions to real-life problems.

World Happiness Report. Countries like Denmark, Finland, and Iceland regularly top the list. They offer more than poetry and physical exercises. They provide strong social support. But is that enough for lifelong happiness?https://www.worldhappiness.report/

I see it this way: The world could be a place of happiness for everyone if it weren't for the human heart. Our innermost self is the knockout criterion for the happiness of the world. No matter how long we meditate or try to optimize ourselves, we fail.

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. Mark 7:21-22 (ESV)

The heart needs a complete overhaul. But we can't manage that. This renewal can only be brought about by God's Spirit within us. From the beginning, the possibility of harming oneself and others is part of human nature. This is the sober insight and understanding of the Bible: 'The imagination of the human heart is evil from youth' according to Genesis 8:21.

Without God's Spirit, we are incapable of producing good. And even when we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit of God, we find that it is still not possible to be consistently constructive, kind, appreciative, helpful, hopeful, motivated, generous, … and least of all unconditionally loving. If we could do this, we would be perfect; then we would be God. But we are His creatures, we make mistakes, and we cannot do justice to everyone and everything.

I wonder why a young educated woman would post such a statement as a New Year's greeting online? Does it reflect her deepest longing? The longing for a place where the soul can simply be, where forces like fear, worry, grief, and suffering must stay away? A place full of peace. Contentment. Justice. Purity.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)

Yes, I cannot comprehend God's unrestricted work. I can't even grasp my own small life. But I would like to learn more. I long for the distant, the eternal, for the mystery, for the goal.

We all carry a longing for the eternal within us. It drives us to search—for the origin and purpose of our existence. Because there it is unimaginably harmonious and fulfilling, close to God, with God, in God, filled and surrounded by God, the soul wants to be exactly there. Sometimes when we long, our soul remembers that it was created for more than this earthly life.

Sometimes the curtain opens, and we get a foretaste of the glory that awaits us, and we feel the energy of heaven, the power of the Holy Spirit that does us so much good. We feel connected to God. The soul is satisfied. The heart becomes calm. The body is strengthened.

This happens when we open our hearts, focus our attention on God, and worship Him freely; then His Holy Spirit leads us before God's throne. We are blessed with grace, mercy, and help. We are cleansed of everything. Blessings flow abundantly.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrew 4:16 (ESV)

The separation between God and me is lifted. A new and direct relationship with God is possible. Through Jesus, he is the new High Priest who offers the definitive and perfect sacrifice, himself, through his death on the cross. Jesus is God's ultimate answer to my powerlessness and lostness and my longing. Jesus is the fulfillment.

Every person wants to be part of something complete, something greater than themselves. Something that outlasts them.

Every soul wants to worship. That is why I understand the young woman. Every soul wants to surrender and experience the surrender of another. Jesus gave himself up, even to death and beyond. But Krishna, Rama, …? They expect devotion, but that they should give themselves, I read nothing about that.

Krishna, he is a beautiful figure in paintings, yet according to my research an avatar, the 8th or 9th incarnation of the deity Vishnu.  

My God, the God of the Bible, has been the same from the beginning and He will not change for eternity. He is reliably the same.

Hundreds of people gather and chant the same melody and sequence of syllables together; very quickly, a group dynamic phenomenon arises, which can be captivating. I can understand that she is taken with it. In the recurring meditation syllables, one can empty the mind and lose oneself. Do I have to do that to be happy?

Christians also like to sing, with devotion and passion. At least I do; otherwise, I remain silent. We exalt our Lord and become aware of His greatness and love, with modern and old songs. We do not repeat the same syllables (mantras) an estimated 100,000 times to put ourselves into a trance-like state. We gladly keep a cool head with a burning heart and let ourselves be gifted peace by the Holy Spirit; we do not produce it ourselves.

And what are we supposed to think of that? Lord Krishna has 16,108 wives and manifested just as many times to meet each of these women in a special way. Of these, 7 are wives, the others are concubines.

This is not about a god who redeems my soul and offers me eternal life in his new harmonious world after death, but about a spirit who wants me to open up to him and make myself available. Krishna 'the Dark One,' with his flute, embodies the lightness of physical-romantic love (Eros).

The love of my God, however, is Agape, Phileo, Storge. Selfless, friendly, familial. I may be a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells, but I do not love my Lord with erotic love. Physical love is meant for us humans. 

In my opinion, anyone who worships Krishna and surrenders to him commits spiritual adultery. He satisfies the longing for romantic-physical union, like with the man/husband, which is lost or completely absent. In my perception, Krishna intrudes there.

"The world is a place of happiness for everyone," Krishna wants to delight with his Eros, right? 

But isn't there a deeper, more serious longing behind it all? One for an even more intimate relationship that reaches into the deepest depths of a soul? Because there is a space there that only God himself can fill.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to go there, God will fill this space with His presence, acceptance, peace, meaning, wisdom, comfort, joy, … Completely. Until no desire for anything else is felt. God has visited us. He has recognized us. His Spirit - Ruach, the breath of God - then dwells in me, is present in my world, in the deepest depth of the soul. Is there anything more blissful? A gift, not an achievement. God comes to me.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 
1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV)

When a Hindu feels guilt and wants to wash it away, he must enter the turbulent Ganges; his dirty water is supposed to remove sin. How can water from the outside cleanse the soul deep within? No Hindu deity can erase the trace of my mistakes on my soul. Only the Spirit of God within me can do that. I receive Him when I entrust my life to Jesus in prayer. God's Spirit cleanses me. I receive the invitation to the greatest wedding feast of all time, in heaven, and also the eternal right to dwell in God's new harmonious world. 

I cannot imagine connecting with an impersonal world soul. My soul wants more; it wants to know whom it is speaking to, to have a living relationship, someone who loves, sees me, takes part, speaks, and acts. Someone who steps into the breach for me with their life.

In Hinduism, there is only temporary bliss. A temporary release from the recurring cycle of death and rebirth and union with the world soul Brahman. Pretty stressful. Frustrating when neither bliss nor salvation is lasting. Disappointing, because even the most sincere devotion in yoga bears no fruit. Yoga does not aim to get to heaven. The salvation that Christians experience is eternal. We go to heaven and are only reborn once for that. If we entrust ourselves to Jesus in prayer, we are inwardly reborn into God's new world, in which we will live after death.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 (ESV)

Salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ; there is no other way to be saved. No other way leads back to 'paradise.'

No Hindu tradition or philosophy, no physical exercise, and no sexually motivated spirit can save; without Jesus we are lost. Deceived by poetic declarations of love. I sincerely wish that the veil is removed from their heart and eyes so that they recognize the truth.

The world is not a place of happiness for everyone. But we can make the world a better place, right where we are. Every day, every moment, a little more.

Show the world Jesus with your life.

Francis of Assisi wrote about it:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace,

that I may love where there is hatred;

that I may forgive where there is injury;

that I may bring together where there is discord;

that I may speak the truth where there is error;

that I may bring faith where there is doubt;

that I may awaken hope where there is despair;

that I may kindle light where darkness reigns;

that I may bring joy where sorrow dwells.

Author: Gabriele Waechter
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