Happiness...

Very often it happens that we use few words so frequently and easily in our day to day life least knowing the fact that there are so many deep feelings that can be culled from these profound words.

Happiness for instance is one of them, for me completely defining the word happiness and unfolding its universal and ultimate meaning would in itself be the happiest moment I guess!

Every individual has his own concept of happiness; it’s therefore a highly individual thing.


Happiness an Illusion:
There are few individuals for whom Sense of happiness is just an illusion...as everything else in life.

This reminds me of a Marathi song which was a part of a famous play. It goes as follows:

Khara sanga sukh mhanje nakki kaay asta?
(tell me the truth, what do u exactly mean by happiness?)

Te kaay asta je ghar baslya milta?
( Is it soemthing which u get just by sitting at home?

Sukh mhanje dukhacha urelela gandha..
( Happiness is nothing but a feeling which persisits with us after sorrow)

Radta radta hasnyacha avdta chand..
( Its just a practise of smiling through your tears)

Manapakharu jagnya sathi asuslele asta..
( Our wandering mind is always craving to live in happiness)

Sukh mhanje mrugjal,sukh mhanje para,
(Happiness is a mirage,its like mercury u cant hold it in ur hands it justs runs off.)

Sukh mhanje shabd bapuda,sukh mhanje kewal vara..
(Happiness is just another word, its moves away as fast as wind)

Kuthlya shani muthimadhuni nistun jaat asta..
(happiness is like sand the harder u try to hold it the more quickly it slips from ur hand.)


This song always hits me when I meet or come in contact with people who consider happiness nothing more than an illusion.

For them happiness is unachievable not because they are weak or lame not to find it, but merely because something like happiness never exist for them. For them it’s just as any other feeling like noise, heat or cold which lasts only for a while and disappears. As the regular science goes that u can’t feel hot or cold as per ur wish similarly for these people u can’t feel happy as per ur wish, it’s something which u may feel or u may not. They are far away from analysing and discovering the aspects of happiness or ways to achieve it. They prefer flowing with life and experiencing what it gives them and forgetting it the very next moment.
They don’t go into deep realities or vast scienctific or philosophical reasonings regarding the pleasures of life. Ofcourse this nature of theirs may be natural or due to some bitter experiences they have faced previously.


Exploring happiness in the outside world:
Some individuals believe that happiness is something u don’t receive, it’s something u have to find and attain, this I think comes out of their propensity to explore beyond their own horizons.
They travel miles together in search of joy and happiness, they try to seek happiness in their surroundings, few of them try and extract happiness through their hobbies, few of them do the same by learning new things, others believe that if they could help others and make others happy through their kind deeds and words they will attain true happiness as my one of my friend rightly said.
These individuals strongly believe in the concept that ‘LIFE IS AN ECHO’;
Whatever u sow so shall u reap, they therefore always are kind and gentle in their approach to the outside world and helpful towards their fellow-men.
Many of them do receive what they hope for; they indeed are happy and contented with their life and in turn they are successful in changing lives of other people too in ofcourse a more better way.



Finding happiness from within one’s self:

While there are people as I have mentioned above there are few who make an desperate attempt to find happiness without depending on someone’s company or running helter skelter for it. They not nessciraly oppose the view point of the former category but they surely don’t believe in the concept of finding happiness in the outside world. They firmly believe that nothing and no one else can make you happy, that happiness only comes from within one’s self. I would like to mention here about a friend very close to me, she is a female who can survive in almost terrible conditions one could ever manage too and still when she is back she will tell you amazing stories about how she enjoyed her stay there in a place where a normal person would have been suffocated to death.
People like my friend are blessed with the ability to be happy in any weird conditions, this is only because they are happy from within,their soul helps them to see the best of every adverse situation and neglect the negativity.
These people achieve permanent bliss. Their truly happy soul flinches not in times of sorrow, nor does it surge with ecstasy in moments of joy. Theirs is a state of equanamous being, tranquil and joyful. Pain, pleasure, heat, cold, noise, silence all are same to them. They rejoice in the knowledge of the spirit and the contentment of everyday living.


A new insight on happiness when two ends meet:
Blessed are those people who are successful in their struggle to make these ends meet.

The best example one can cite here is of Siddhartha Gautama, he was born in the lap of luxury in the kingdom of Kapilavastu around 566 BC. Siddhartha enjoyed all the pleasures of life one would hope for while he grew up in his lavish palace, but soon he became disillusioned with his life and leaving behind his riches and loved ones he became a wandering monk and set out on his journey to explore the outside world in search of happiness and enlightment. (As our first category goes.)

For six years he practiced severe asceticism thinking this would lead him to enlightenment. But soon he realised that overdoing things can not lead to happiness. He sat under the Bodhi tree in deep meditation and came to the conclusion that in the ends of suffering alone lies happiness.
With this supreme wisdom of his was born Buddhism a religion which helps sentient beings, end suffering, achieve nirvana, and escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth ultimately leading to true Happiness!
(very similar to the thought process of our latter category, that only when u get rid of negativity which comes from sufferings and start nurturing positivity is when u are happy from within)

The combined effect of these two extreme beliefs certainly leads to the insights of true happiness, wherein material comforts and luxuries are shed off and true happiness is seeked from within ultimately taking care of the interests of our own as well as our entire society.