Lesson 3

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
Is it the state of mind? Of understanding?
Are there many causes of happiness? If so, what are they?
Can happiness be generated by objects and possessions?
If this is correct, then is the happiness belonging to the objects or are we happy?
Is happiness our personal responses to external stimulation – best understood as raaga-dveshha?
Then is happiness to control raaga-dveshha?
Is happiness not responding to duHkha?
Is happiness responding equally to duHkha and sukha? Or responding at some level of equilibrium? Or not responding to either?
Is happiness not responding to kaama? Not having desires or desiring?
Is happiness contentment?

If happiness is contentment – than what is contentment?
Is karma necessary for contentment or happiness? If so, then what is the relationship?

Is happiness fighting kaama, controlling raaga-dveshha, not getting swept away with emotions of sukha and duHkha while continuing to do karma?

Is Happinesses contentment – not being pulled by likes and dislikes, not reacting feeling sad or happy.
Is it the stable equilibrium – state of mind – of oneness?
Is it oneness with Aatmaa? With nature? With creation? With paraMAatmaa?
Is this the same oneness? Or are these the different? Different in nature or in the levels?
Is happiness in neutralizing all reactions to the physical world of mithya?

Aatmaa
what would it be like to come face-to-face with our own Aatmaa? Would we recognize it? Would it be the same for everyone?
Is Aatmaa a state of awareness? Or a level of awareness?
Would it be like coming up against the wall of pure color or consistency seemingly unlimited with no discernible top, bottom, sides, texture or definable quality?

We can all see a part of our body. We can look at other persons, even if we do not "see" them. We can even claim to be able to see our nose. But who has seen their own eyes?
Can you really see your own eyes in a mirror? Can you look into your own eyes?
Do you need the base of some other person to see your own eyes reflected?
Would we recognize ourselves if we did that?
What is same-different about looking at the rise in the major and in the eyes of others?
Can you use this as a reality check? As a Gyro to maintain the lifestyle wanted or planned?

Is seeing the Aatmaa only possible by looking at what is not seen?
If Aatmaa is not shuunya, is it like a vacuum?
Will Neutralizing all reactions to the physical world of mithya make us feel like the buddhaH when he said - "I am awake now"?
Is it like watching the Dawn – long before the sun comes up there is increasing delight, and then the sun comes up and looking at it there is only light?

moksha and the Black Hole
can moksha be achieved in this lifetime?
Is it like a state of Aatmaa?
Or is it like consciousness? Is it the same as absolute-collective-cosmic-universal consciousness? Or is it a part of it? Somehow same-different!
Is this to be understood as the black hole of spirituality? Once we are aware of karma – happiness – Aatmaa – consciousness – it is like we have reached the Event Horizon and there is no escape from continuing all the way into the black hole?
Is moksha like the membrane of the black hole that upon passing through there is no-thing and the consciousness becomes part of the membrane – the universal absolute consciousness?
Is it necessary to make a jump – a leap of faith – to reach this point in seeking moksha?
How can we understand this jump and negotiate it?
Or is the "jump" like walking out on a cantilevered beam?
Or is this jump like the journey of the thousands steps between two points not knowing when we passed through the gateless-gate? Like discovering there is no longer need to count the infinity of points connecting two points?

What is the significance of the words "moksha iishhyaami" spoken by shRiikRiishhNa in 18-66?

jNaana
is it possible to understand what is not known?
Is it possible to explain what is not understood?
Is it possible to help someone on the path negotiate what we ourselves have not?
Is Focusing on others and helping them proceed ahead of us on the path of moksha -- the self sacrificial quality of karma?
If we renounce the lifestyle centered around all-every dharma {18-66} and only follow the svadharmaM outlined in the shRiimadbhagvadgiitaa, will we achieve moksha oneness with bhagvaan?