Happiness is within us, and it is ours, but we are always superimposing our own inner joy on to something outside and thinking it comes from there. If we examine our actions very subtly, we will find that even your mundane joy comes not from the objects of enjoyment but from within us. We say, "I feel so good when I listen to music. I get so much happiness from playing tennis." But actually, when we do these things, it is our own inner joy that we experience.

In Vedanta there is a proverb "The joy of the world is like a dog's bone.'' A dog finds a piece of bone and starts to chew it. As he chews, pieces of the bone get stuck in his gums and blood begins to flow. The dog tastes the blood and thinks, "This bone is delicious!' The more he chews the bone, the more his gums bleed. The more he tastes the blood, the sweeter he feels the bone to be. This is an unending cycle. Just like the dog, you do not realise that the joy you get from this world is coming from inside you !

Think about the happiness you find in you life. Where does it come from? When you have finished eating and your stomach is full, you experience a moment of satisfaction. When you meet a friend after a long time and embrace him, you feel joy for a fraction of a moment. When an artist contemplates his work, he experiences a few seconds of peace. What actually happens at such moments is that the mind becomes still and the center of bliss within reveals itself , like a flash of lightning. Yet the bliss you experience then is not everlasting and it is just a shadow of the bliss inside. To experience this bliss directly, you must turn within in meditation and look for happiness, where it really dwells.