{"id":1862,"date":"2025-05-24T16:45:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T16:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2025-05-24T16:45:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T16:45:25","slug":"swami-kriyananda-stories-ch-37-looking-for-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-stories-ch-37-looking-for-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda Stories — Ch. 37: Looking for Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swami Kriyananda planned to attend a fundraising dinner in Sacramento.<\/strong> As Ananda\u2019s sole photographer, it fell to me to take pictures of the event. But I didn\u2019t want to go, and I pleaded illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019re sick,\u201d Swamiji said matter-of-factly when he saw me the day after the dinner, his voice impersonal and tinged with irony. I hadn\u2019t fooled him.<\/p>\n

In truth, I had desperately wanted to be sick. My ego had been bruised again and again in Swamiji\u2019s company. I was acutely self-conscious, hyper-aware of my faults, and didn\u2019t welcome the opportunity to have them painfully exposed yet again.<\/p>\n

And, well, that was my problem. As I would learn, oh-so-slowly, Swamiji didn\u2019t care about my faults at all, whether imagined or real. He knew them all, yet he never weighed them against his love for me. What he was <\/em>concerned about, and what he was relentless in trying to help me learn, was the right attitude<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It would take years, but I eventually concluded that what pleased Swamiji and won his approval most reliably was my own happiness. And what was it that made me happy? After trying everything else, I realized that I was happiest when I could just be a simple person and devote my full energy to forgetting myself in serving God\u2019s work and giving His love to others .<\/p>\n

I found that it wasn\u2019t a question of pressing myself into the mold of a \u201cspiritual\u201d person. And it wasn\u2019t what my behavior looked like from the outside. What mattered was how I vibrated inwardly.<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, what has Rambhakta ever done for me? Help me to forget this silly old person and be a simple instrument of Your friendship, kindness, compassion, joy, and good cheer.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I was able to pray sincerely in that spirit, I found God responding. I found in my meditations that if I could plumb the depths of my being, and find the attitudes of a simple devotee and a child of God, I was happy and comfortable in my own skin, including when I was around Swamiji.<\/p>\n

My greatest treasure has been the happiness that my first halting steps toward the right attitude have brought me: when I have succeeded in forgetting myself and expanding my awareness to include others. I may only have earned my learner\u2019s license, but I will testify that if you\u2019re looking for joy, don\u2019t worry about what it looks like to be joyful. By watching the people who are the happiest, I think you\u2019ll see that they are steeped in attitudes of selfless service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swami Kriyananda planned to attend a fundraising dinner in Sacramento. As Ananda\u2019s sole photographer, it fell to me to take pictures of the event. But I didn\u2019t want to go, and I pleaded illness. \u201cSo you\u2019re sick,\u201d Swamiji said matter-of-factly when he saw me the day after the dinner, his voice impersonal and tinged with … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSwami Kriyananda Stories — Ch. 37: Looking for Happiness - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A 59-year disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda shares the secret of happiness he learned through difficult trials.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-stories-ch-37-looking-for-happiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda Stories — Ch. 37: Looking for Happiness - 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