Human
life, from birth to death, seems to be a perpetual quest into ways and means of
acquiring, preserving and reproducing happiness. A newborn child may be happy
to be with his/her mother and may be content with being fed at proper times. As
life progresses into infancy and childhood the demands and requirements for
happiness gradually increase and may become rather insatiable during adulthood.
Man needs a host of comforts to be happy and deprived of the same he becomes depressed,
desolate
and sad, or even miserable. Once a certain set
of requirements are fulfilled he may be happy for some time until he needs
another set to be fulfilled for further satisfaction and happiness and the
cycle goes on with a never ending list of demands! What is this happiness that
man is ever after? Why should any one be happy at all? Is happiness everlasting
or transient? Is it possible for man to be eternally happy? These are some of
the queries that have agitated the minds of philosophers, psychologists,
scientists and laymen from time immemorial.
Happiness
may be considered to be a positive emotion that results in a relaxed and a
peaceful state of mind. Though psychologists have not found a simple, yet
comprehensive definition of emotion, they have generally agreed that emotions
entail, to varying degrees, awareness of one’s environment or situation, bodily
reactions and changes in behaviour. Physiologists consider emotions to be a
synthesis of subjective experience, expressive behaviour and neuro-chemical
activity. During periods of relaxation, our body secretes protective, mood
altering neurotransmitters. One of these, known as Serotonin, is a powerful hormone
associated with feelings of happiness, contentment and relaxation. Recent
investigations indicate that many a depressive state may be due to deficiency
of this hormone in the body. However, for a common man happiness is easily felt
than defined.
Whatever
may be the mechanisms that result in the happy state of mind, the expression of
this phenomenon is universal in its characteristics. All over the world human
beings express happiness in the same way: a twinkling in the eye, a brightening
of the face, a faint smile which may culminate in hearty laugh, clapping of
hands, a shout or even jumping and dancing around, are all expressions of joy
and happiness. Even animals express this emotion as evidenced by the behaviour
of pets towards their masters: licking,
wagging of tail of a dog, the snuggling of the pet cat etc., are also a
modified version of the same expression of happiness. One interesting aspect of
this emotion is that a large part of it is innate and inherent to the organism.
It is an inborn quality rather than something learned through experience. Young
human infants at the age of forty-five days express happiness with a smile;
their eyes brighten when they are in a happy mood. Even infants of earlier ages
also show this smile while they are fast asleep, even though there is no
apparent cause for such an expression.
Now the question is why people want to be happy? What
possible biological significance such emotional reactions have in the evolution
of human species? Charles Darwin suggested, way back in the latter part of the
19th century, that the positive emotions such as happiness, joy etc.
were adaptations, which conferred a helping, hand in the survival and
perpetuation of human species. Many modern psychologists and biologists do not
disagree with this view. This concept may be understood better if we analyse
the advantages of being happy. Many psychologists believe that happy and
contented people are characterised by enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence.
An extensive series of investigations have indicated that positive emotions /
feelings enhance empathy and altruism. A number of studies have demonstrated
the beneficial effects of positive emotions on thinking, memory and general
health of human beings. Some are even of opinion that happy people tend to
mirror the “social ideal” as they are highly democratic, less dogmatic and more
open minded. They are highly pro-social, people-oriented individuals who are
loving, caring, concerned, helpful and giving. If that is so, then, such
emotions as happiness definitely help the species chances of survival and
propagation.
One interesting aspect of happiness is that it is
very transient. A person may be happy one moment, but soon becoming unhappy
when situations and conditions change around him. We may fix targets of
personal achievements in terms of acquisition of wealth, social prestige and
professional progress. Once these requirements are fulfilled and targets are
attained, the overall contentment and happiness may persist for some time until
a new set of targets are fixed. In other words, after attaining happiness at
some level we may feel an initial surge of pleasure. We may then consider this
as the normal level of achievement and aspire for something even better to give
us another surge of happiness. Satisfaction, as one psychologist says, “has a
short half life”
Now we come to the final question, is it possible to
be happy all the time? Or how does one keep oneself happy permanently.
Materialists always advocated that the best way to be happy and contented is to
go on fulfilling all the needs. As indicated in the earlier section this is
virtually impossible. Then the best way to perpetual happiness is to conquer
unhappiness. This may sound as if the best way not to pay income tax is not to have
an income. However, this is not so. Happiness can also be defined as a state of
mind where there is no room for cares and worries. In other words, keeping the
mind in a state of tranquillity so that the mundane causes of worries and cares
do not agitate the mental equanimity. To conquer unhappiness, then, one has to
identify the causes of unhappiness, and consciously try to overcome such
influences. What are the causes that agitate the mind to make it unhappy? Our
scriptures have identified three principal causes for all problems of humanity
in one way or the other. These are excessive passion, anger and greed.
“Passion, anger and greed, these constitute the
triple gates to hell leading to the damnation of the soul. Therefore, one
should shake off all these three”.
Bhagavat Geeta XVI: 21.
When man is constantly in the
pursuit of material gains and so called achievements in life there is ample
tension due to competitions and disappointments owing to failures. All these
generate a host of negative emotions in succession, which lead to unhappiness
and unpleasantness. This gradual erosion of mental peace and consequent
destruction of the personality is graphically described in Bhagavat Geeta.
“When a man thinks of objects, ‘attachment’ for them
arises; from attachment ‘desire’ is born; from desire arises ‘anger’; from
anger comes ‘delusion’; from delusion ‘loss of memory’; from loss of memory the
‘destruction of discrimination’; from destruction of discrimination he
perishes”.
Bhagavat Geeta II: 62,63.
The happiness of the mind is
synonymous with the peace of mind and peace of mind is possible only through
discipline in life restricting one’s desires in terms of achievements,
acquisitions and accomplishments. Sri Sankaracarya has advocated, probably, the
best way to achieve such discipline in life in his Bhaja Govindum:
“Pranayamum pratyaharam
Nityanitya-vivekavicharam
Japya-sameta-samadhi-vidhanum
Kuruavadhanum
mahadavadhanum”.
“Control the breath, control the senses (control oneself),
sift out the transient from the True, repeat the holy name of God, still the
restless mind within; apply yourself with heart and soul to this universal
rule”.
Of course this is not an easy task.
It may be asked that if we restrict ourselves from achieving more and more, how
can we progress ourselves in any field of human endeavour. It is true that
every one needs to achieve a level of basic comforts in life to be happy. But
the emphasis here is on restricting oneself from over indulgence and attaining
a level of mental discipline so that one can enjoy the kind of peace of mind
leading to happiness.
