TRIPLE STREAM
Is not Happiness within us?
I. V. Chalapati Rao
What every
human being seeks in life is happiness which to most of us is like chasing a
butterfly - an elusive thing. Happiness
is not a gift or an accident. It is our
natural state and mental
condition. Happy people find beauty and
charm in every thing, in all living things and nature and in every normal
action. Wise men are happy even with
small things but nothing pleases the fool!
It depends on the ability to work, to count
one’s blessings and enjoy life (by righteous means of course). Happiness is in the present but not in the
distant future. It is not chance but a
choice. One has to reach out for it
when one sees it. It is not wishing for
what we do not have but enjoying what we have, by looking at it in the right
perspective. It is not what happens to
us but how we perceive what happens. In
fact, happiness is proof of one’s success in the art of living.
Does money or
power bring happiness? Certainly not.
As it is said in ‘Panchatantra’:
‘Money causes pain in getting
In
the keeping pain and fretting
Pain
in loss, pain in spending
Damn
the trouble never ending’
Will Durant, the famous historian writes how
he looked for happiness in knowledge and found only disillusionment. He then sought happiness in travel and found
weariness. He then tried wealth and
found only discord and worry, and in
writing, he was fatigued.
There is in London a research organization
called DEMOS. They conducted a research
survey in 54 countries to find in which countries people are happy. To the
astonishment of every one they found that in an affluent country like U.K.
people are not happy but in developing countries like Bangladesh, Nigeria and
Azerbaijan people are happy. According to Prof. Robert Worcester most of the
people in Britain are unhappy on account of environmental problems, family mal-
adjustments and human relations. Dinosaurs once ruled the earth but they became
extinct because they could not adapt themselves to the changing environment.
Likewise, research in 55 countries showed that additional income does not add
to their sense of well-being. Power too is powerless to secure happiness. Let us remember what Wolsey who wielded
enormous power at one time said: “Had I served God with half the zeal with
which I had served the king, he would not have abandoned me in my twilight
years”. Poor men’s cottages may not be places of high philosophy, but they have
a faith and attitude of their own, which serves as a shock absorber. Cyril Donnolly said “Happiness lies in the
fulfillment of the spirit through the body”. Often we think with our bodies.
The body has its own wisdom. The body and the mind are inter-dependent. Within
our mind and heart there is a deeper spring of joy with spiritual roots. Plato
has rightly said: “If the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by
curing the soul”. Geothe, the German Philosopher echoed the same idea when he
said “He who is plenteously provided from within needs but little from without”.
Even Shakespeare confirmed the inadequacy of
power in his play MACBETH when the physician is questioned:
“Can’t thou not minister to a mind
deseased
Pluck
from memory a rooted sorrow
Raze
out the written troubles of the mind
And with some oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuffed bosom
Of that perilous matter which now sits upon it”
Power often accompanies guilt complex! It is
difficult to acquire and retain it by fair means.
Honesty and
character are the secular and non-spiritual sources of lasting happiness. Even
if such people have to face poverty and other worldly problems, they stand like
the Rock of Gibralter four-square to the blowing winds. Psychologists and
pathologists have discovered that happy people tend to fall ill less often and
recover more quickly. They even seem to age more slowly. They live longer
without feeling that their warranty has expired with the onset of old age.
Confucius said “Mind is the reconciler
between the body and the spirit with the healthy life as the result of
reconcilement”. P. M. Symonds, the specialist in Psychology in Columbia
University conducted a research project and found that the happy and the
unhappy people have their own problems and often the same problems but the
former has a positive outlook. They look life straight in the face with
courage. They have mastered the technique of happiness by finding a positive
for every negative and looking upon obstacles as opportunities.
We should realise the supremacy of the soul
without blaming ‘destiny’, ‘luck’, ‘Government’ or ‘somebody’. Whether we realise it or not, we should
accept responsibility for what happens to us.
There is cause and effect syndrome to reckon with. “The mind is its own place. It can make a heaven of hell and hell of
heaven,” as Milton said. Heaven and
hell are not in outer space. They are
inside man’s mind. As Jesus Christ
declared “The Kingdom of God is within us, not without us”. Our good thoughts and deeds reward us with
peace of mind and our evil thoughts and deeds boomerang on us. As Emerson wisely observed: “If we pour
perfume on others, a few drops will fall on us”.
Harold Sherman, the famous Psychologist
said, “People should love, live and pour their resources prodigally into the
task of living. Then by an inherent law
of nature, life pays them back in their own coin”. Life does not let you down.
As Jesus Christ cautioned “Render unto Caesar the things that belong to
him and to God the things that belong to Him”. How to curb the rising tide of
emotions and control our feelings? How
to adjust our relations with others and communicate pleasantly? William James,
the professor of Psychology, says “Human relations are the main thing”. Peter
Drucker, the management expert feels that every organisation should have annual
audit of human relations instead of the stereotyped financial audit.
Personality is defined as “the degree to
which one interests, influences and serves other people”. As Swami Vivekananda said “He alone lives
who lives for others. The rest are more
dead than alive”. Bhagavadgita prescribes “Nishkama Karma” as the
sacred principle of life. It is
‘disinterested’ but not ‘uninterested’ service.
True happiness comes from detachment. As T.S. Eliot says “For us there is only
trying. The rest is not our
business”. The Talmud says “The work is
not for you to complete. But neither
are you to desist there of”. R.L.
Stevenson, the famous thinker and writer said, “The striving and not the
grasping, the journeying and not the arriving are the sources of happiness. All life that is not mechanical is spun of
two strands-seeking for the bird and finding it”.
All the
great western writers and philosophers support and confirm what India’s Bhagavadgita
had said thousands of years ago;
“We have only the right to work and never to
bother about the fruit thereof”.
Let us turn on our green lights and switch
off the red lights. Let us strive to be
optimistic, patient, unselfish and work vigorously. If we do these things with noble thoughts, generous hearts and
caring hands, we will be happy, atleast as happy as it is given to human beings
on earth. Happiness is within our consciousness. We need only to recognise, claim and bring it to light with a
smile. He is not well-dressed who does
not smile!