Questioner : Nowadays my patients commonly ask how to attain mental peace.

Dadashri : How can these people achieve peace of mind? They are looking for only restlessness. They cannot achieve peace of mind from anywhere. Peace of mind would remain if one stays in his natural state. Instead of taking a nap for a little while, one sleeps for four hours after lunch. This is unnaturalness. This leads to restlessness and ruins the surrounding situations. One ruins everything with egoism. One would not have come up with this condition, if one’s ego were within the normal limits.

The bliss of the Real Self

Mental peace exists as the worldly self (Vyvahaar atma). After Self-realization, one attains the bliss of the Self. One cannot attain knowledge of the Self with verbal or worldly knowledge. For this, one has to know the true nature of the Self as it is, in reality.

Moksha means to remain in constant bliss. Even if someone abuses you or picks your pocket, if bliss remains, that is moksha. The Gnani Purush remains in a state of constant bliss.

The nature of the Self is supreme bliss. The liberated Supreme beings (Siddha Bhagwant) are in infinite supreme bliss. As little as one minute's worth of bliss of these liberated Supreme beings would be equal to the bliss of a whole year for the people of the entire world. This is very gross simile to give you an idea of the nature of the bliss of the liberated souls.

The happiness one experiences from external sources is pudgalic in nature i.e. it is something that integrates and disintegrates through intake and output. The happiness one experiences from the external source, from the pudgalic subatomic particles, is not the bliss of the Self. The effortless, natural bliss within is the bliss of the Self. People experience happiness when reading the scriptures. This is not the bliss of the Self. It is only pudgalic (non-Self) happiness. It is similar to the temporary pleasure one experiences in the shade of a tree after being exhausted from the heat. Happiness arises from hard work. Bliss should be spontaneous, self sufficient and independent. People experience happiness by watching movies or attending weddings, but it is all temporary and transient happiness, because it turns into unhappiness later. This is merely entertainment of the mind (manoranjan) and not the bliss of the Self (atmaranjan). Once the unchanging bliss manifests then one should know that the Self has been attained.

Eternal bliss is the goal

Questioner : Does that mean this is a shortcut to Self-realization?

Dadashri : This path is direct and a shortcut.

Questioner : But what is the ultimate goal of this path?

Dadashri : The ultimate goal of this path is to attain eternal bliss, become liberated and be free from all dependence on the non-Self (niralumb)

Questioner : What is eternal bliss and what is the definition of eternal bliss?

Dadashri : It is bliss for which no effort is required. It is attained naturally and stays with you forever. Eternal bliss is such that it is never associated with any misery.