Follow Happiness

From the very first moments of life, we are taught that happiness is something to be earned. We hear it will come once we achieve something important – when we get good grades, when we grow up, when we find a job, a partner, a home. Always further ahead, always under a condition. Even in the warmest families and closest relationships, this message echoed from every side: not yet, a little more, maybe tomorrow.

It is no wonder that so many of us believed this story and started running after it. And yet, a moment comes when we begin to notice the absurdity of this mechanism. We have already achieved a lot – fulfilled some dreams, reached certain goals – and while satisfaction did appear, it never lasted. A new idea arose, a new “more,” a new “tomorrow.” And in this endless chase, something within begins to crack. A question arises: is it even possible to find happiness that does not end?

What is the happiness we are seeking?

Usually, we look for it in things and experiences. In a body that can be improved. In thoughts that can be reshaped. In places we can travel to. These material and mental pursuits bring a temporary relief, sometimes even a sense of fulfillment – but they never stay with us for long. The physical world knows no stillness: everything flows, the body ages, emotions shift, situations come and go.

Nitya reminds us that we are trying to hold on to something that, by its very nature, cannot be held. “Here everything flows and everything changes all the time, so there is no way to stop the movement of the universe,” she says in this Satsang. And yet, this is where we place our sense of happiness – as if it could be guaranteed by what is, by definition, impermanent.

Then a natural question arises: if happiness based on change always fades, then what is true happiness? Perhaps it is not something to be achieved in the world, but something already within us – an ever-present awareness untouched by time and circumstance.

Highlights of Satsang:

• The madness of chasing tomorrow [0:22]

From early childhood we are taught that happiness lies in the future. The message keeps repeating: “not yet, a little more, maybe tomorrow.” Even when we fulfill our dreams, the joy lasts only for a moment before the next desire arises. This cycle repeats endlessly – as if we were running in a race where the finish line keeps moving further away.

Nitya calls this madness. Happiness built on what is fleeting will never be lasting, because the world is always changing. Living like this, we become prisoners of “tomorrow,” and the present moment always seems insufficient. In this part of the Satsang, a simple but powerful question is asked: does life really have to be this way?

“More, tomorrow, later – and so without end. That is a kind of madness.”

• The background that is always present [8:59]

Nitya uses the simple example of a clock. We look at the hands that are constantly moving, but without the background of the clock face nothing would be happening. Change can be seen only because it unfolds against something that itself never changes.

Life is the same – all our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like the moving hands. And yet, there is also something that has never been touched. A background, a presence, an awareness, through which everything else appears. Most people never pause to notice it, as all attention is absorbed by the content, by what is happening. Yet recognizing this background makes all the difference – for it is neither born nor does it die.

“There is a background that makes it possible for everything here to flow, to appear and disappear.”

• Recognizing yourself as Awareness [19:59]

Another fragment leads toward direct insight. Nitya invites us to recall memories – from childhood, youth, adulthood. Each event looked different, the body changed, thoughts and feelings came and went. And yet, in the background there was always something sustaining it all.

It is not the body, which replaces every cell within a few years. It is not the personality, shaped by external influences. What remains is Awareness – unlimited, unconditioned, beyond time. Recognizing yourself as that which is always present brings relief, because there is no longer a need to cling to the ever-changing form. It is an insight in which the weight of constant “I must” simply dissolves.

“I am speaking to that place within us, the place that is free.”

How to find happiness when everything changes

When we try to build happiness on what changes, a sense of lack remains. And yet in this Satsang another possibility resounds – that true happiness is not tied to the future or to achievements. It does not depend on how the body looks, where we are, or what is happening in the world.

Perhaps the answer does not lie in the next change, but in recognizing that which never changes. The happiness we have been seeking all along does not need to be found – because it is already here. The background that has always been and always will be.