There is no one scientific formula or magic trick that can lead you to happiness. Happiness is a way of life. Happiness comes from generating inner peace and building a life upon it, writes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI  

A jigsaw is a picture printed on cardboard or wood that has been cut up into a lot of small pieces of different shapes that you have to fit together again. Gaining peace is a similar exercise except that the picture is spirituality on the whole. In this article, I will try to identify as many pieces as I have learnt so far. My sources have been scriptural texts, relevant discourses, conversations with knowledgeable persons, and most importantly, my personal experiences to gain peace. I have been seeking peace for a very long time, and have learnt that there is no magic formula. It is a mysterious phenomenon in which it is not easy to understand all the underlying factors which make it happen.

The very first piece and the most important one is as explained by lord Krishna in The Gita’s verse #2.66, in which He has stated, “For peace, one must be faithful because there is no real intelligence in the faithless. And for one who has no faith, there is no proper consciousness. For one who has no proper consciousness, there is no peace.”

The lord goes on to say in the same verse that there can be no happiness for one who is not peaceful. People are not happy even after material gains. It’s because they are not peaceful. They might be calm, but not really peaceful.

For real peace, God should be brought into our lives; knowledge of God is not sufficient.

His presence has to be felt as described in the verse #13.15, “He is both outside and inside all living entities. He is often unknown because he is subtle.

I have been reading The Gita for a long time. I had even memorized portions of it, but real peace did not come. There must be a deep desire for peace, like one has for, say, more money. We may have many desires but the one which really drives us is the deep one, i.e. I must have it. I will do anything for it. Once that happens, one will be seriously seeking it; one will begin to look for the pieces which contribute to it. One will realise that we are different from the animal species; we need to do much more than just meet our material needs. We are built differently; our minds and intelligence are of a superior kind.

One must be dutiful. lord Krishna instructs, “You should always do your duty. Maintenance of the body will also not be possible through inaction.” (3.8) One, who is not able to maintain himself has hardly any chance of being peaceful. Then, one must be follower of ‘dharma’, otherwise acts done against dharma will bring bad results. These will keep peace away from us. Following dharma will motivate us to make sacrifices for others; we will serve others, which all of us must do. Such mutual serving is conducive to peace.

Maintaining oneself is one thing but to be attached to sense enjoyment, especially of the harmful kind, takes one away from peace.

If the mind is occupied in such thoughts, where could there be any chance of peaceij Rather, lust, greed, anger — emotions of the wrong kinds must be shunned at all costs. Such knowledge will come from doing satsang — crucial in this matter. We will have innumerable doubts. They must be resolved. And, lastly, there must be some time devoted to this purpose. Remaining busy always helps pass time but we need to devote some time for gaining peace, ie to connect with God. If one knows in one’s heart that one is not happy, then, it is time to take shelter of God. One will soon realise by the grace of God that it is peace, which one is lacking.

And God can give it because, as explained earlier, connection with Him is necessary. This is a good start. As more pieces begin to fall into place, one will taste peace. Peace is the basic requirement for a human being. It not an option that can be ignored if one really wishes to be happy.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com