Happiness like beauty is indefinable. Everybody has his or her own concept of what
happiness means. What gives happiness to Tom causes unhappiness to Harry. In
other words, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.
However, it is undeniable that every
human being makes all sorts of efforts to become happy. There are also various connotations of the
word happy. Some of its equivalents are:
joy, bliss, cheerfulness, gladness, delight, elation, high spirits,, enjoyment,
glee, merriness, gaiety, thrill, euphoria, and gratification.
English divine John Tillotson (1630-94)
believed that man courts happiness in a thousand ways.; and the faster he
follows it the swifter it flies from him. Almost everything promises happiness
to us at a distance, but when we come nearer, either we fall short of it, or it
falls short of our expectation; and it is hard to say which of these is the
greatest disappointment. Our hopes are usually bigger than the enjoyment can
satisfy; and an evil long feared, besides that it may never come, in many times
more painful and troublesome than the evil itself when it comes.
Though there are many saints and
philosophers who have expressed their
views about finding happiness in
this world of sorrows and sufferings, I would quote here only the quintessence of the teachings of
Lord Buddha who had the first hand experience of good and evil, suffering and
salvation. Strangely enough what is quoted here is not about what to do to become happy but what one should
not do to become unhappy,.
In
my humble opinion, what is quoted below is the universal and eternal secret of
happiness.
According to Lord Buddha the origin of
suffering lies in lust, passion, the thirst for pleasure everywhere, sensuality,
desire and selfishness. He holds hat all acts of living become bad by ten
things which if avoided become good. There are three evils of the body, four of
the tongue and three of the mind. The bodily evils are: murder, theft and
adultery; those of the tongue are lying, slander, abuse and idle talk; and of
the mind covetousness, hard and error.
So he exhorts his followers to: 1.
Kill not, but have regard for life. 2. S teal not, and do not rob; but help
everybody to be master of the fruits of labour. 3. Abstain from impurity, and
lead a life of chastity. 4. Lie not, be truthful. Speak the truth with
discretion, fearlessly and in a loving heart. 5. Invent not evil reports, and
do not repeat them. Carp not, but look for the good sides of your fellow-beings,
so that you may with sincerity defend them against their enemies. 6. Swear not,
but speak decently and with dignity. 7. Waste not the time with gossip, but
speak to the purposed or keep silence.8. Covet not, nor envy, but rejoice at
the fortunes of other people. 9. Cleanse your heart of malice and cherish no
hatred, not even against your enemies. but embrace all living beings with
kindness. 10. Free your mind of
ignorance and be anxious to learn the truth, lest you fall a prey either to scepticism
or to errors. Scepticism will make you
indifferent and errors will lead you astray, so that you shall not find the
noble path that leads to life eternal.
--------G. R. Kanwal
