Happiness: A Vedantic view

The word Vedanta means the “end of the Vedas”. In the literal sense this denotes the final knowledge or the ultimate Vidya. The Vedas are our oldest scriptural texts that have been claimed as the most ancient of the books of knowledge. These are compiled into four volumes, each having two parts. The first part of each Veda deals with the mundane subjects of means and ends or worldly gains. The second part, called Upanishads, are directed towards spiritual knowledge and address the serious seeker who is looking for self-knowledge that leads to realisation of the ultimate reality and thus leaves nothing to be desired or achieved. It is the knowledge that helps in acquiring self-actualisation. The basic purpose of Vedanta or the Upanishads is to help man search for the eternal that is the source of truth and joy. Happiness, thus, is the product of realisation of truth. Happiness, according to the Vedantic view, does not lie outside a person but is within that person. It is the very nature of man. But it is ignorance of that essentially happy nature which is the cause of all dissatisfaction and unease. The Vedanta thus helps a man lift that veil of ignorance and reveals the source of all happiness to him. Happiness is essentially embedded in human nature and is the vedantic goal of life. Vedanta shows how happiness lies within and the study of Vedanta is a journey towards reaching a deep understanding of one’s own true nature. It teaches how without going anywhere or seeking anything from the outside one can attain total fulfillment. Vedanta gives the knowledge of Brahman or the ultimate reality. The very name Brahman suggests that the questing spirit in man is due to the activity of God and the aspiration to realise God is in fact derived from God. The knowledge of self is what leads to the knowledge of God and this knowledge is the road to the eternal happiness or bliss. These are times when happiness is being sold as a commodity and people are actually paying a price to buy happiness, which is but a mythical concept. Real happiness cannot be found externally, it has to be realised within. The mystic Indian poet saint Kabir Das has explained this very appropriately in his famous couplet which can be paraphrased in one sentence as follows — Just as the fragrance of a flower lies within so also is the essence of human happiness inside the man, yet he acts like the musk deer searching for the musk in the grass where the aroma from the musk within it has spread. This ignorance is the root cause of the futile search for happiness outside. Happiness cannot be found. It has to be realised. It is a state of mind. The Vedantic view tries to emphasise this approach to happiness by suggesting that linking happiness to external objects would always be a failed exercise. This truth can also be understood by the simple marginal utility theory of economics. The wisdom of Vedanta lies in this eternal truth that linking happiness to outside is a prescription for unhappiness. Indian civilisation and culture has survived the ravages of time because it is based on the solid foundation of the wisdom stored in the Vedanta. The search for happiness outside is trishna or intense craving for something. It will never lead to contentment. Real happiness can only come from within.

The strength of character

There is an old saying: when wealth is lost nothing is lost; when health is lost something is lost; when character is lost everything is lost. The saying needs some elaboration as the context has changed. It was coined when wealth was not the be all and end all of everything. But we are in the commerce age, where wealth is everything, gotten from whatever means. How to relate the relevance of the saying to the modern times is what would be baffling to many or may be most. But there is relevance, only one needs to probe a little deep. So, as the saying goes when wealth is lost nothing is lost because it can be regained by using health and character. But when health is lost something is lost because the weakening of the health will make things difficult for people to recover wealth. Yet, since character is there, sincere efforts can still help in getting back what is lost at least to some extent. But when character is lost, nothing will come back as it is the character that gives the drive. Let us look at the present political scenario. What is happening may leave even the most ardent of the optimists with serious doubts about the future of the country. Political scenario has left a lot to be desired. It is not just about the recent happenings in the elections to the few state assemblies that went to polls. We need not go back very far. Just remember what happened in Karnataka sometime back? You decide, but if one word that can aptly describe the entire story — it is character. It was conspicuously absent. More recently Maharashtra or even Haryana. And what is happening in Jharkhand. The incidents will put even the most shameless to shame. Shame, yes people in politics have thrown the very idea of shame to the winds. A politician in one party today does not find favour there, goes to another party, succeeds and may even change over to some other party to gain a position of power or may be for something in cash or kind. Where is the Indian politics heading for? Disaster? Chaos? Whatever, but portends are ominous. How to explain what is happening? Logic cannot explain. Reason has no answer with values and morality virtually becoming extinct in politics the scenario can only be described as a precursor to anarchy. There is a rather elaborate description of these times in the Uttar Ramayana section of Ram Charit Manas. All one needs is to read the dialogue between Kagabhushundi and Garuda on how things will be in Kalyug. It is so vividly described that futurologists like Alvin Toffler may appear naïve. The dialogue has also been very neatly summed up in a very popular song from a Bollywood hit of the early seventies starring the thespian Dilip Kumar in the lead role. Relevant portion of the song is being paraphrased here. The song says that an era called Kalyug will come in which all undesirable things will happen. There will be black money and blackhearts. Thieves and pickpockets will be rich and respected whereas the righteous will be miserable. Those who will be greedy and sinful will be called saintly. And the real clincher is that there will be proclamation of righteousness and religiosity everywhere but there will be no shame. How vivid and accurate. There cannot be a better description of these times.