Are All the Interesting People Found in Hell?
Acharya Prashant: You have to tell yourself that which is found in hell is the lowest and the most polluted, the most diluted, most corrupted kind of happiness. It is no happiness at all! I really want to be happy therefore I am giving up this place, therefore I am venturing out, therefore I am rising high. Are you getting it?
So those on the spiritual path must take special care to be happy. As we said the spiritual seeker must reclaim happiness otherwise you are letting happiness go to the dogs literally.
You are allowing such people to monopolize and misuse the word happy as have no right to be happy. Do they have a right to be happy? No. But they are the ones who are always found happy. Heaven is a very happy... (correcting himself) Hell is a very happy place. See, I hate to correct myself. Heaven should be a happy place instead all the happy ones are found in...
Questioner: Hell
Acharya Prashant: All hours in hell are happy hours and heaven is such a dry place. Why have we allowed that? All the people who are laughing, and giggling they are all found in hell. Somebody said all the interesting people are found in hell.
No! They are not interesting people; they are sick people. It’s just that the very definition of the word 'interesting' has become distorted to their advantage. People in hell are as interesting as a stinking pile of trash is. It is indeed interesting, to whom? To crows, to dogs, to various kinds of bacteria and such things, they find it very interesting. Are you a crow to accept that definition? Why must you accept that definition therefore it is important to reclaim these words- interesting, happy, smart. Why must you call all the nonsensical beefcakes as smart? I’ve never heard somebody calling a Buddha or a Mahavira as smart. Why not? Why have you abandoned all the interesting words to the creatures of hell? Why?
By doing that you have raised trouble for yourself. We have come to a point where, if you find a spiritual person, really pleased and radiant and actually happy then you start doubting whether he is really spiritual. Because the only ones who have a right to be happy are…
Questioner: The Hell people.
Acharya Prashant: The people of hell. You say, “You are spiritual, how are you happy? You are not supposed to be happy.” "Then what am I supposed to be?" “You are supposed to be gloomy, dull, de facto dead. You’re supposed to be a corpse somehow in motion. You are not supposed to dance, you are not supposed to sing. You’re supposed to be just regretting the fact that you are breathing. You are supposed to be wishing that you dropped it this moment or next”, then you are a spiritual person. All the merrymaking is reserved for...
Questioner: The Inhabitants of hell
Acharya Prashant: The inhabitants of hell. No wonder that place is jam-packed. If all the merrymaking is supposed to happen in hell where would you find most of the people?
Questioner: In hell
Acharya Prashant: In hell and that’s what we have done. All that which makes life worth living has been allotted to hell. Now, how surprising it is that everybody is attracted to hell?
If you are a lover of truth, if you are in the spiritual pursuit then it becomes a double responsibility upon you to remain highly happy. And when I say 'highly happy', I do not mean the degree of happiness. I am not referring to the degree of happiness, I am referring to the quality of happiness. Do you get the difference? I am saying you have to be 'highly happy' that does not mean that you have to raise the decibels doubly, as you guff out. No! Highly happy means your happiness has to be of a high order. It is your responsibility.
Do not starve yourself of happiness. If you are giving up on lower happiness make sure that you provide yourself with higher happiness. That’s your privilege. More than privilege that’s your Dharma , that’s your responsibility. It would sound strange to you. “Is it my dharma to be really happy?” Yes. It is your dharma to be really happy. Because if you are not really happy then you will seek happiness. And if you will seek happiness sooner than later, you’ll find yourself in hell. The only way to avoid hell-like happiness is to create heaven-like happiness for yourself.
If you are living in a heaven devoid of happiness then that heaven will not be able to hold you for long. Your patience will run thin and you will find yourself attracted to hell. Now all said and done hell offers happiness. Getting it?
Elevating life is one thing, giving up on life is totally a different thing. Choosing the right road compared to the wrong road is one thing and not traveling at all is a totally different thing.
The resident of hell who claims that he is happy will be terribly afraid of facing someone who is really happy. That’s his nightmare. So, he is always cautious. He will not want to come across as a really happy person. Therefore, he will be very choosy, and very selective due to fear in terms of the ones he speaks to, the ones he chooses to make claims in front of. You are saying there are so many residents of hell who go about bragging that they are happy and satisfied. They cannot make these claims in front of everybody. They make claims in front of only those who would not dispute or disprove these claims. Are you getting it?
So, if they are able to successfully make these claims in front of you then it merely means that right now you are not in a place where your very being, or presence, or voice reflects back to them their miserable state of existence. They think that you are a soiled mirror. Standing in front of a soiled mirror you can deceive yourself. Can you not?
Once they know that you reflect honestly and accurately, they will be very afraid of making dishonest claims in front of you. The fact that they avoid reality, that fact that they avoid truth and spirituality itself demonstrates that they are afraid. Are they not? If you say that you are indeed happy and satisfied would you be reluctant to test the depth of your satisfaction, the depth of your life? No! But you would see that these people are very-very reluctant. They are reluctant because they know they will be exposed. Getting it?
Full article link: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/heaven-and-hell-are-closer-than-you-think-1_fb50be1
