Nirvana Is Right Here

You don't need to abandon your responsibilities or make drastic life changes to find peace. The duties, relationships, and daily obligations you carry aren't obstacles to fulfillment; they are the exact canvas upon which it happens. Real freedom isn't waiting at a distant destination or across an unreachable threshold. 

Nirvana is not something you seek out in the world; it is a shift in how you see it. It is the realisation that clarity and peace are accessible right where you stand, amidst the noise of everyday life. 

Stay tuned to discover how true peace begins exactly where you are. 

Share your experience with us on WhatsApp at +916361803371

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SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Art of Being Happy, Buddha's Guide to Modern Living from Jaitavanorama Buddhist Monastery Sri Lanka. This intriguing talk series brings Timeless Buddhist wisdom to help you navigate life's challenges through simple practical insights. Each episode offers gentle guidance for finding peace and joy in everyday moments. Join us on this journey toward lasting happiness and inner peace. Brought to you by Sanatanavani, the voice eternal.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I've made that change on your behalf. Let me come and talk to you. You be just where you are. You don't have to come and sit next to me. You know what I mean by that, right? Because I understand, dear mothers and fathers, dear brothers and sisters, that you are caught up in a myriad of responsibilities, duties, and obligations. And as much as you might perhaps have considered and maybe will in the future consider a different walk in life, perhaps there are certain boundaries that can no longer be crossed. Maybe there are certain locks that can no longer be unlocked. So it is not my ambition to come here and tell you, what the heck are you all doing? Let's go to the temple and let's get ordained. Let's all become monks and nuns. That's not what this is for. Even less so to try and make you all Buddhists. No. As I said, I'm not a Buddhist monk. I'm just a scientist in a robe. What you see here is simply a lifestyle that I have chosen for very good reasons, which I will share as we go along. You don't have to become a monk. Nibbana is not very far away from where you are right now. And nothing could be more true than that. Nibbana is right where you are. It's right where you are. My job is to try and help you realize that. It's not to find nibbana, because to find something it has to be. You gotta be somewhere and it has to be somewhere else. Yeah? That's when you have to go finding something. You find a lost pair of keys, you find your umbrella, you find a lost child, you gotta go looking for it. But why is nibbana a realization and not a finding? What do you have to realize? It's right where you are. That's not a finding, that's a realizing. I will help you do that, I promise you. All you gotta do is just bring yourselves. That's all you gotta do. So we went to the UK and we settled down. So at that time, we were just my mother, Apache, Amma, and my brother. And then time passed. I did my LOs, as I said. So I was quite keen on becoming a doctor, so I chose the subjects that would help me become one. I was fascinated by biology, but more specifically human biology. So around that time, this subject came into the curriculum. I loved it. How all the parts of the body work in unison, how what you put in here can actually go all over your body and make this wonderful machine work. So interesting. Physics, chemistry, maths, those were the things I used to spend my time with. But somewhere down the line I realized that although I was to become a doctor, I wasn't supposed to become that kind of doctor. Funny how destiny works. So somehow I feel I believe I've achieved my ambition, but in a very different way. I was not meant to become a doctor in the conventional sense. In a very different sense. So I gave up my idea on medicine, and then I chose something else that would pique my interest around that time, and that was computing and finance. These were the two things that really interested me next to medicine. So I went into university and started doing a degree in computer networks engineering. And you might think, what? Same Hansil here did computer networks? What's going on? I myself look back at my past today and wonder, wow, that was one heck of a ride. So after I graduated, then it was time for me to tie that knot. What knot am I talking about? Some refer it to as the noose round the round the neck. Huh? No, but she was different. As I'm sure everyone will say, right? She was different, yes. But in fact, she was my childhood sweetheart. We'd known each other from lower kindergarten. And it was in fact in grade one when I had decided she was going to be li be my life partner. See? Love at first sight does actually work. Give me a show of hands if you're married to your first love. You've got to say yes, come on. So then it was time for us to. She was here, and then I was there. It was time for us to live together. And so with our parents' blessings, we came together and we started living a quite a happy, uncomfortable life. She was quite keen on traveling the world. I wasn't so keen at first, but then she showed me wonders and pleasures of that, and so I joined that bandwagon myself. And to travel the world, of course, one of the biggest hurdles there was was you had to apply for entry permit to the country. And that was getting a bit too much, so then we decided if we just had a passport that allowed us to travel, then we could. So whilst we were there, we'd been there long enough. So for one reason and one reason alone, I mean, what use is it to me today? The only reason I wanted was to travel the world with no hurdles, no barriers, no boundaries. So we both got our British citizenship and then we started traveling the world. Enjoying life as we did. Little did I know that everything was about to change. So as we were enjoying life, as you'd expect, one day one of our friends asked us to come around for a meal, and we did, like all good friends do. And so as we walked in, people started coming, filling the room, filling the living room up, so we realized that there was going to be some kind of event. And so then a young man walked in in his late twenties, he was by that time. I've said this story many times. I love hearing it. That's why I'm saying it again. My favorite story. How I met my mother. More like how I met my real mother. My last mother in Sansa. So this young man walked in, and I saw him, he saw me, I didn't know what he was there for, he knew exactly what I was there for. So I walked up to him and said, Hello, Machang, how are you? As you do. He said, Yes, I'm very good, thank you. It's good to be here. But a few minutes passed, uh, about half an hour passed, and the room was then arranged just like it is today. So there were chairs pointing this way, and there was one chair pointing that way. And guess who went and sat there? This Machan. And then he started talking. We all started to listen and he started to speak. I didn't realize that five hours passed. From the moment he started to say his first word. Time passed, minutes turned into hours, and only when I saw dawn, the light of dawn, the light of daybreak, did I realize that it had been about five o'clock in the morning. So around that time, when the talk came to an end, my life changed completely. That was the day that I found the purpose of my life. It took me a good twenty six, seven, eight odd years to come to that realization. But I realized that there was much more to have and to achieve in life than the mere pursuits of materialistic gains. Conventionally and materialistically, I had a good life set for myself. You know, I wanted to retire by the age of 40. And I had it all planned out. I had my investments done, I had my properties, I had this, I had that, money in the bank, pension planned out. All sorted. Because I worked at the bank. So after I graduated, I wanted to. Computing and finance was what interested me, so I went and worked for an investment bank. And that's where all the money is. So if you want the money, where do you want to go? It's where the money is. So a good five years at the bank, and I'd worked out a nice retirement strategy that would keep both my wife and I very happy for the rest of our lives. But then this happened, and then this happened. If back then you'd worked out my net total value of my net assets, I think at the tender year age of 22, 23, and please don't think I'm boasting, I'm only sharing this story because I want you to understand that I can relate to where you are, so I can help you see a different path in life. At that age itself, I think I probably would have accumulated enough wealth than most people in our country would in their entire lifetime. I wanted to help others as well. So it was not just all for myself. I wanted to become successful so I could help other people. That hasn't changed. Some things never change. So I wanted to help other people, and my wife was so keen on that as well. You know, once a year we'd come to Sri Lanka, and one of the first things we'd do is we'd go shopping. No, not for ourselves. We'd go shopping and buy dry rations and clothes and all sorts of things for poor people. We'd pack them up in bags, go to the local temple and ask the monks there, Venerable Sir, please can you bring around, you know, 10, 15, 20, however many families that you can gather up on a day that is convenient for all of them, and we will come and we would we would like to distribute what we have. We loved doing that. Absolutely loved doing that. It gave us so much joy. And that was only the beginning. I had big plans to help do away with poverty. That's what I wanted to do. No one needed to be poor in this world. So these were some of the grand plans I had. And then as I listened to that man speak, and he opened my eyes to a different reality in life, everything changed. And today, I own nothing. My net assets today, I can count on the five fingers that I have on my hand. In fact, two of them I don't even need. You're already looking at one of them. That is the rope that I have on me. I have another one because when this goes into the washing, I need to be in another rope. And then I have my arms brought. The only possessions to my name. So if you my if my teacher kicked me out of the temple, out of the monastery, those are the only three possessions that I can actually walk away with without anyone questioning me. To take my toothbrush, I have to seek permission. But on the day of my ordination, I was handed two robes and an arms bowl. I don't even have shoes. I don't have a watch on my wrist. I don't even have to worry about my hair anymore. I'm a very simple man. I have nothing to my name. So it begs the question, does it not? Why are you here? Shouldn't you go to someone who has everything? Normally, when you go to a talk, when you go to a seminar, you go to someone who has something more than you do. So you can learn how to acquire that. Maybe you might go to a uh, you know, a person who is very rich, or perhaps someone who is very successful in business. So you can learn a thing or two about how to become successful. You've come here and met with someone who has nothing. I have nothing to give you. So why have you come then? Here's why I suggest I think why you have come. I think you've come because you're beginning to realize that all the things that you have have not helped you achieve contentment. You're working hard, trying, striving, doing more every day, every week, every month, and every year. Every year you start with new ambitions, new hopes, and new dreams. Right? Next year I'll do this, the following year I'll do this. Perhaps you have yourself a 10-year plan, maybe 20, maybe even a 50-year plan. So did I. By 20, I had a 20-year plan, by which point I was due to retire. And I'm sure you do as well. But you realize, do you not, that in that plan and the plan that you have come along thus far, you have still not been able to achieve what you really wanted in life. Why you made those choices, you're still not sure. In fact, if I were to summarize, has it not been a case of the blind leading the blind? Now, some of this might sound a bit harsh, I don't mean it to be. I'm just speaking the truth. Because when I sit on this chair, after I have worshipped the Supremely Enlightened One, he who is the founder of the truth, I can speak nothing other than the truth. My teacher changed my life by speaking the truth. And I want to share the truth with you, and nothing more, nothing less. You realize the choices you have made in your life have yet to make you happy. You're still not happy, are you? Not fully. No? You sure? Shall I throw a few at you? Do you still get angry from time to time? Do you still get annoyed? Bothered? Frustrated? Worried? How about that? Anger is not good, is it? Anger, we don't like to be angry. But what about worried? That's alright, isn't it? Worried? I worry for you, my dear child. I worry for you. I mean, come on, parents. Being a parent and being worried are synonymous. If you are a parent, you're worried about your children. If you're a child, you're worried about your parents. You're worried about your future. You're worried about the economy. They're worried about your business. You're worried about your friends. You're concerned. That is why I said, can you think about the last time you had a peaceful night's sleep? Most nights are sleepless nights. Are you still counting sheep to help you sleep? Depression is big nowadays. I won't be surprised if I asked people in the room to give me a show of hands, but I'm not going to ask you to do that, don't you worry? Who believe they are either clinically or on the verge of clinical depression. Stress, eating into people. We weren't used, we didn't used to be like this, but now we are. Three generations ago, do you think your great-grandmother was depressed? Perhaps she was oppressed, but never depressed. Perhaps today you'll say, you know, we women of today's day and age, we enjoy more liberties than we than our great-grandmother did. We can roam around freely, we can drive, we can vote, we can do everything a man can do. But you know what? She was happier than you. And I mean this in the nicest way. I want to help you. You must only come here if you need some help. I went to my teacher because I need help. I'm still with my teacher because I still need help. When we were at the school, at the end of the uh the program, some of the teachers came around and they sat around me and they asked me some questions. They said, Swami Nazar, can I can we talk to you? I said, sure. So there was this one teacher, fine gentleman, he asked me this question. No, Swami Nasana, I've been listening to you speak. You you you talk about like there are you're you are able to sever attachments and bonds that you have to various things. Aren't you afraid to die? He asked me. A wonderful question. He said, Is there nothing you fear? Do you not fear death? I said, sir, out of all of us, I am the one who fears death most. I'm the one who fears death most out of all of us. He asked me, but why? Sir, because I have realized the purpose of my life. I have realized that there's a higher truth to be achieved in this lifetime. It is more valuable than anything anyone else in this room is going after. This is what I told him. I understand that this is invaluable. And to do that, I need my life. Whatever it is left of it. Whatever is left of it, I need it. Because I still haven't completed my path, I haven't completed my journey, I haven't reached my final destination yet. So therefore, I treasure my life. You know, I used to say it's just a funny story, right? Back then, as a layperson, if I was to cross the street, okay, and say there was a granny waiting to cross the street, I might go and stand in front of her and give her some cover and say, Achi, wait, let me hold your hand and cross you. You know, today I'll go stand behind the Achi. I'm just kidding. But I want you to understand what I mean by that. Today I'll go stand behind the granny and ask her, please give me cover because I have something immensely valuable that I want to achieve in my life. So he asked me, Are there any possessions that you are worried and scared of leaving behind? I said, Yes, there is just one, my teacher. I need my teacher, but anyone else, you can take it at your will. I used to feel the same about parents and friends, but now I realize that it more than I need them, they need me. Not me, but the message that I have to have to give. I am useless. Totally. I am worthless. So, you know, as we progress, as you come along and we meet each other, right? Let's get that on the table as well, right at the start. Dear ladies and gentlemen, I am not after a following. I don't want followers. I want students. A student is with the teacher, not because of the teacher. A student is with the teacher because of the teaching. I don't want you to be my disciples or my followers, or accept everything I say at face value. Please no blind faiths. I'm not your savior. All I am is a very simple man carrying the Buddha's message. If you want a teacher, there he is. If you want a teacher, there he is. All I am here to do is to carry the Buddha's message because this was the message that has helped me achieve the freedom that I have today. Because it is the truth that sets you free. And the truth is not me, the truth is the message, the message of freedom. So today I have nothing. In fact, if you put yourselves and I on a scale, right? You would sink to the depths of the ocean and I'd be up in space. That's how the scales would tilt. I have nothing. But in having nothing, I have everything. You know what I have nothing of? Nothing that worries me. You know what you have everything of? Go on. You drove in today, didn't you? In whose car? Your car. It's parked outside, right? In a moment you're gonna hear a big bang. Who's gonna be running out? Me or you? Please don't think I'm mocking you. I wanna help you. I'm not against having property. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, have and use everything, but own nothing. It's a nice principle for life. If you can use anything, but own nothing. Today, I use everything I need. Anything and everything I need, you provide. Not because you are my devotee, but because you want to earn merits to help you on your journey to Nibbana. Because in life you get what you give. If you want love, you give love. And in ex in return you get love. If you want kindness, you give kindness. And in exchange, you earn kindness. If you want hate, you give hate. What do you get in return? Hate, of course. How do the rich become rich? By hoarding or by giving? By giving. Why are the poor so poor? What are they poor at? Giving. What are the rich rich at? Giving. That's why the rich are rich and the poor poor. You know, when you begin to understand the Dhamma, you will begin to realize everything in life. Everything. Like you've never done before.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Thank you for joining us on the Art of Being Happy from Caitavanarama Buddhist Monastery. May today's wisdom bring you peace and joy in your daily life. We'd love to hear how these talks have touched your life. Share your experiences with us on Plus 91-6361 803371. Until next time, may you find happiness in each present moment. Brought to you by Sanatanawani, the Voice Eternal.