Yoga takes us towards expansive contentment within us

We all experience both happiness and unhappiness in our lives. A major source of pleasure is the connection between our senses and their objects. We taste food and drink that we like, we enjoy that taste, that gives us happiness. We experience body sensations, like sleep, sex, or a good massage, and that gives up another kind of pleasure. We watch movies, listen to music, and that too is another way our senses please us. We also derive happiness from the company of loved ones or achieving our goals.

What underlies all these experiences of happiness? It is the connection between a desire in our mind and an outcome outside, especially through our senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.

Spiritual or transcendental happiness arises when we do not depend on this external connection to feel happy. Our mind and senses are naturally quiet, not habitually seeking outside experiences. We are able to remain content from within.

Yoga and the Upanishads speak of this as “ānanda,” inner joy that is free of the entanglements of the senses and the desires of the mind. It is contentment beyond the need for one experience or another.

This is a deeply meaningful goal. It gives us freedom to act or not to act, to make our choices in our life from a place of restfulness and joy within. And this is where the practice of yoga can take us gradually.