The Means of Happiness:
His Holiness Sri Chandrasekhara Bharathi Swamigal of Sringeri Sharada Peetam has discussed the subject of "The Means of Happiness" in the book "Dialogues with The Guru". I give below the excerpts of the same taken from the book.
"Happiness is a State of mind and cannot be gauged by the quality or quantity of external possessions. A person may be the lord of all the three worlds and yet be unhappy another may be the poorest of beggars and yet be the happiest man in the world."
His Holiness concludes the dialogue on the subject with these wonderful words:
"Suppose you have about twenty articles in your room every one of which is likely to distract you by its very sight. Which is the more practical method, to prepare cases for enveloping every one of them or to shut your eyes?
Similarly, it is impossible for you to regulate, modify, annihilate or create at your pleasure the infinite things of
the universe which are likely to disturb you. But you can so regulate your own mind that it may gradually cease to be disturbed by them. This is quite within your competence. Your forefathers were happy, not because they had more objects of pleasure or less causes of trouble, but because they were able to retain their mental equilibrium, which gave them rest, peace and contentment and, therefore, happiness. They did not depend upon outside things to make them happy, nor did they concede to outside things the capacity to make them unhappy. Their feeling of rest and peace, contentment and happiness, was normal, natural and healthy and, therefore, lasting. You must also cultivate that feeling if you want to be happy. Such a feeling is born and ingrained in the Brahmana especially, and if he neglects it and seeks happiness in the outside world, he is seriously impairing his chances of getting it again in the next birth, for God will be quite justified in withholding a gift which the donee does not appreciate at its proper value when he has it with him. Never let go your birthright or svabhava of contentment and never give the go-by to your sva-dharma or duty. Everything will right itself in due course. Make honest and sincere attempt to regain
and retain your brahmaniam in the firm faith that God is ever with you to help you."
(Source: Dialogues with The Guru compiled by R.Krishnaswami Iyer
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
Dear Brahmanyan Ji,
Thank you for this lovely message but at the same time I feel it stressed upon contentment as of the main ingredient to peace and happiness.
No doubt its true but yet again contentment is one of the shades of pleasure.
I would not be too wrong to say that contentment is a personal preference.
A human needs some amount of basic "material" and relationships to feel contentment that leads to an equilibrium in his/her mind.
This equilibrium also needs sense acknowledgement and its subject to change and the usual time,place and person.
The degree and type of contentment differs from each person..a King and a Priest will have different levels and degrees of contentment..so again contentment is subjective.
Something that is subjective can not be the goal in existence.
When I say that I feel contentment is a personal preference its becos each one of us can handle any given situation differently and that too to a certain extent.
I will give a simple personal example..a few years ago there was a H1N1 outbreak here and all clinics were busy like hell cos patients were panicking for any symptom thinking it was H1N1.
The patient load was too much to handle that I started closing early to escape from the maddening crowd.
My friends thought I was foolish cos they felt it was the best opportunity to gain more income but for me I valued seeing a patient without rushing and valued going home on time cos I do value my personal time and all these would be thrown in an imbalance if I sat down and managed the extra load of patients.
So I shut earlier cos as it is patients were too many to handle..did money matter here? Nope..it didnt cos I had my personal preference and was only able to manage to a certain extent..now some did think that I was a contented person who did not want to make extra money in an outbreak of H1N1 but I would still feel its not contentment but purely my preference.
Its a personal preference that makes us have a ceiling on desires and that too differs from person to person and the ability of a person to handle any situation.
Handling too much money or too little money can be a difficult task for some..so they seem contented with what they have becos that is all their mental make up can handle and their personal preference plays a major role here.
Now even a preference needs a sensory pathway acknowledgment....one feels a sense of pleasure that reinforces the feeling of contentment.
A preference needs an input..at least an optimal level..when it falls below the baseline..there you go..one loses the peace of mind.
So what is that state that does not need sensory pathways acknowledgment?
We always feel that an equilibrium has to be the median of polar opposites? But is it?
After all even a median is still in the axis of polarity.
Could it be that true happiness is a state that is beyond polarity,median and all? A state that needs no sensory pathway acknowledgment? If so how does that "feel"? Do we only "know" without "feeling?"
It just seems that we humans spend our lives mistaking pleasure/contentment as happiness.
Fifty shades of pleasure yet we are grey about Happiness.
