Is it winning a lottery? (or) Closing a Multi - Crore business deal? (or) Accomplishing the dream house, Expensive Car and servant maids who would act upon our wish?
What is happiness?.. I questioned myself.
I am sure most of us like kids. There may be various reasons why we all like kids of which most common would be its cuteness. It is not only because it is cute but the smile which a child adorns symbolizes the happiness within the child which has a great power to melt anyone’s heart. This happiness within the child attracts every one of us. But as the child transcends through various stages of life like Child, Adolescent, Adult this smile for some reason or the other is not the same. What I mean is that the definition of happiness becomes more materialistic as we grow. We feel we are not the controller of Happiness but it is derived or defined by possession of Money, Materials, Muscle Power etc.. Of course Money, Material & Muscle Power may give us happiness but it is never sustainable because once you achieve something we are no longer happy with the same. We tend to look for something else and then else and then else.. Finally we are left with everything we desired but for happiness. This may look exaggerated but this is a fact of life.
Let me explain the same with an anecdote.
Once there was a king who was jealous of his servant maid, for simple reason being he was always happy. Every time the servant maid passed by the king was nonplussed thinking to himself “I have abundant wealth and I control this entire kingdom but I am not happy compared to what the servant maid is” The king called the servant maid and asked him how he manages to be so happy when he himself with all his wealth was not feeling contended in life. The humble servant maid replied to the king “Your Excellency! I come from a poor family and my requirements to run the life are minimum. I am able to meet this with the salary you give. My wife is responsible enough to run our family with my salary and my sons do not spend unnecessarily. Hence I am happy.”
The King not convinced with his answer called for a meeting with his ministers. He asked the same question. After hearing to the King, one of the Minister said “Your Excellency! I am not sure how he is happy. But if you desire I can make him feel disappointed in life”. The king gave a thought and said “Go Ahead”. In a week’s time a bag dropped from the roof of servant maid’s hut. He opened the bag and was surprised to see the bag full of gold coins. He started counting one by one. Soon he found out the bag contained 99 Gold coins. He was searching for one more coin to make it One hundred. He went around the hut, on top of the roof, scanned the floor but couldn’t find one. He wanted to make the total count 100 Gold Coins. So he decided to save money to buy one more gold coin. In doing so he became very stingy, he didn’t like his wife spending even to meet the daily requirements, he was angry with his children too for spending money. He felt everyone in his family were irresponsible. And consequently happiness never turned back in his life.
The essence of this story is that for a moment if the servant had thought of living with those 99 Gold coins he and his family would have been happier. But like many of us, he went on to search for something without appreciating what he had for the present and in turn lost his happiness.
Happiness is not having what we want. It is wanting what we have. Happiness is within us. We are the controller of happiness. We are the co-creator of happiness.
You don’t have to do anything extraordinary to be happy. We need to follow simple rules of life like,
- Free your heart from hate.
- Free your mind from worry.
- Live Simple.
- Give More.
- Expect Less and see happiness engrossed throughout your life.
To conclude, People are to be loved and things are to be used but my dear friends there is so much confusion in this world that things are being loved and people are being used. It is a small curve that straightens many things in life. It is within us. We seldom use it. Smile:). Smile from your heart and be happy. Make everyone happy.:)
