Happiness through the eyes of Hindu Philosophy
- In Religion
- 03:35 PM, May 18, 2015
- Sagar Kinhekar
We all use the words happiness, sorrow, pain and pleasure, but do we really know the true meaning of these words? The common answer is ‘who does not know the meaning of happiness and sorrow?’ And that, “everyone in life experiences it frequently”. But nothing concrete comes out of any answer.
Let’s take the commonly used definitions of happiness and sorrow. We get happy when we get what we desire and feel sorrow when we don't get it.
An example: You went for a tour to a jungle and you lost your way. You keep walking for miles together; you are tired and are losing all hopes of returning back. Suddenly you see a small hut right in the middle of the jungle. You go inside the hut and request the owner to let you stay for a while. He not only lets you in but gives you bread, water and sheet to sleep on. Now, isn't it happiness that you feel that you got something to eat and a shelter to spend the night in a deep forest albeit temporarily or do you feel sorrow that your ordeal has only half ended?
Now imagine that nothing of that sort happened and you are actually watching a sitcom on TV and I visit you with a picture of the same hut as explained above. I tell you that you will have to spend couple of nights in that hut and eat some dry bread next month as per astrology! Now what do you feel? The forest, the hut and the bread is same but the suggestion that you will have to spend a night or two in this condition makes you worried right from that very moment. You not only "will" feel sorrow but you start feeling it right from this very moment and keep worrying about it atleast till you forget what I had prophesized.
So as we see that this definition of happiness and sorrow, that what you desire you get bring happiness, is relative. What we desire and what we need to get to bring in happiness is absolutely relative!
Now if you look at it from another angle, some say that sorrow happens only when we desire something and don't get it. That means desire is the source of sorrow. So if we can kill all desires we should be able to come out of the cycle of happiness and sorrow. So some of the scriptures tell us that renunciation is the only way not to feel any sorrow!
But don't we feel happy after getting something we did not desire for? If you put some sugar on a child's tongue would she not be happy? She was neither expecting the sugar nor was she feeling any sorrow for not getting it earlier. So absence of desire may not be the guarantee that we will not feel any happiness or sorrow. Another example can be of a person who has never seen any poverty. The one who is as rich as Bill Gates! He can get everything available in the world. In that case, by definition that sorrow happens when desires are unfulfilled, he should not feel sorrow at all. But does it happen? Rich also feel sorrow. Though that's not to say we should not be rich! I would much rather cry in a sprawling bungalow than in a small hut.
But the two points which stand out very clearly are these - one, happiness and sorrow are relative and also they are most likely independent of each other and the desires.
So if fulfilling desires or slinging the desire out in a deep sea is not the answer for a life time of blissful state then what is?
We use our senses to see, smell, hear or feel what is happening around us in this world. Though, it is the mind which actually experiences the happiness and sorrow. While two people can see the same thing they perceive it differently in their minds. If for some reason there is no connection between the senses and mind then we will not feel anything although our eyes, ears and other senses may be working fine. Therefore whether we feel happiness or sorrow depends on what our mind makes us feel. So if we can train our mind properly we can probably be able to have a blissful life.
There are multiple ways our scriptures have shown how to train our mind. One is of ”Santosh" or being contended with what you have. Being contended is a beautiful concept however many a times it hinders progress. If all scientists say that they are contended with the discoveries that have happened so far or all businessmen say they are happy with the current progress then we will have a world devoid of any innovation or enhanced economic progress!
In India when elders bless us they say "Shanti: Pushti-stushti - shchastu", meaning have peace, be contended and progress well.
So the aim of our life is not just happiness but also progress. But to progress we need to do our "karma" or in other words we need to work and work hard. While doing our day-to-day work we are also bound to face failures and heartbreaks. This will again result in sorrow. When we closely observe this cycle we will understand that the sorrow generated is actually the outcome of results not matching up with our imagined success scenarios. Whenever we take a task in hand we first think of the results and create the scenes in our mind, imagining out what the success will or should look like. When results in reality do not match our created scenes we feel the sorrow.
It’s when we detach ourselves, not from desire but from the result of our "Karma", we stop feeling this sorrow. So, here are the scriptural way to ultimate happiness:
1. The work we need to do needs to be right thing in any given situation
2. Plan your work for right results but do not get attached to the mental picture of success
3. Understand that result is not in our hands so don’t brood over results
Once the activity is over leave everything to the Higher Power ("ShriKrishn-arpanam-astu") and then MOVE ON!!
By Sagar Kinhekar
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