Your essential being is the source of all being-the field of pure consciousness that manifest as the entire universe. In this very moment, pure consciousness illuminates and animates your mind and body, and it is powerful, invincible, unbounded, and free. When you know yourself as this field of consciousness, you have power to manifest your desires, you have freedom from fear and limitations, and you live in grace, which is that state of consciousness where things flow and your desires are easily fulfilled. Joy and sorrow, happiness and suffering, are the play of opposites; they are transient because they are time-bound. Spirit, the essential you, is independent of the play of opposites; it dwells in the silent bliss of the eternal. That's why the key to happiness is to identify with the unchanging essence of your inner self - to live and play in the field of intelligence that is beyond positive and negative. This field is your source, and it is magical, holy, joyful, and free. To experience lasting happiness, you have to go to a place beyond thought and experience inner peace. It's not that you have to maintain a positive attitude. It's not that you have to shed your sadness and bring in happiness. You have to go beyond the world of duality to the field of pure potentiality and live from your source. Happiness and sadness are different faces of infinite consciousness. Both are transient, and you are neither because you are not a state of consciousness. You are consciousness itself expressing all of these states. Why would you want to identify with a wave on the ocean or a mere drop of water when you are the ocean? You are not the ever-changing behavior of the ocean. You are the water-i-ness of the ocean, and this water-i-ness doesn't change. Vedanta declares, 'Know that one thing by knowing which everything else is known.' For one who knows the Self, the limitations of the world disappear. In POWER, FREEDOM, AND GRACE, Deepak Chopra considers the mystery of our existence and its significance in our eternal quest for happiness. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where do I go when I die? Chopra draws upon the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the findings of modern science to help us understand and experience our true nature, which is a field of pure consciousness. When we understand our true nature, we begin to live from the source of lasting happiness, which is not mere happiness for this or that reason, but true inner joy. When we know who we really are, we no longer interfere with the innate intelligence of the cosmos. Instead, we allow the universe to flow through us with effortless ease, and our lives are infused with power, freedom, and grace.