The Fragrance Within
- Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani
- Jun 7
- 3 min read
"If you want to be happy, do happy things. If you want to be healthy, do healthy things."— Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj
One of the greatest mistakes we human beings make is that we are always looking outside ourselves for solutions. We look for someone to make us happy. We look for some situation to make us peaceful. We look for some external force to solve our problems.
Yet the sages of our culture have repeatedly reminded us that both the problem and the solution lie within.
I often recall the beautiful story of the Kasturi Mriga, the musk deer. One day the deer becomes enchanted by a heavenly fragrance. Fascinated by its sweetness, it runs throughout the forest searching for its source. It climbs hills, wanders through valleys, and explores every corner of the forest. It spends its entire life searching.
What it never realizes is that the fragrance comes from its own navel. The scent it seeks everywhere is already within itself.
Are we not doing exactly the same thing?
We search for happiness outside. We search for peace outside. We search for love outside. We search for God outside.
The great saint Kabir reminds us:
"Moko kahan dhoondhe re bande, main to tere paas mein."
"O seeker, where are you looking for Me? I am already close to you."
The Divine is not hiding from us. The Divine is within us. The Divine is around us. The Divine is expressing itself through every breath, every heartbeat, and every moment of awareness. Yet we continue our endless search in the external world.
The wisdom of our ancient Tamil culture expresses the same truth in a profound manner. The celebrated verse from the Purananuru declares:
"Theedhum nandrum pirar thara vaara."
Neither evil nor good comes from outside.
Many people quote this line, but very few continue with the next one:
"Nodhalum thanidhalum avattro ranna."
Neither suffering nor its remedy comes from outside.
Pause for a moment and reflect upon this.
How often do we blame others for our unhappiness? How often do we imagine that someone else is responsible for our suffering? How often do we think that if only circumstances changed, then we would finally be peaceful?
Ancient wisdom tells us otherwise.
The causes of our suffering often arise from our own thoughts, attitudes, reactions, attachments, and expectations. Equally, the capacity to heal, transform, and transcend that suffering is already present within us.
This is not a philosophy of blame. It is a philosophy of empowerment.
The moment we recognize that the source of our experience lies within, we stop being victims of circumstance. We become active participants in our own evolution.
As I often tell my students, the mind can be your greatest friend or your greatest enemy. The same mind that creates bondage can also create liberation.
The Bhagavad Gita expresses this beautifully:
"Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet."
"Lift yourself by yourself; do not degrade yourself."
The responsibility is ours. The opportunity is also ours.
My beloved Guru-Father, Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj, used to put this wisdom in the simplest possible language:
"If you want to be happy, do happy things. If you want to be healthy, do healthy things."
It sounds obvious, yet most of humanity attempts the impossible.
We want to do unhealthy things and remain healthy.
We want to do stressful things and remain peaceful.
We want to cultivate negativity and still experience happiness.
We want the fruit without planting the seed.
Nature does not work that way.
The law of life is remarkably simple. Every thought, every action, every habit plants a seed. The harvest we experience tomorrow depends upon the seeds we plant today.
When we choose kindness, happiness grows. When we choose gratitude, peace grows. When we choose discipline, health grows. When we choose awareness, wisdom grows.
The fragrance we seek is already within us.
The peace we seek is already within us.
The Divine we seek is already within us.
The challenge is not to find it. The challenge is to stop searching everywhere else.
May we have the courage to turn inward. May we have the wisdom to discover the treasure that has always been there. And may we realize that the answers we seek are often much closer than we imagine.
"Look within. The seeker, the search, and the sought are ultimately one."- Guruji Rishiputra Balayogi
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