How to achieve Happiness!

Since time immemorial all the religions, preachers and gurus have talked about happiness and how to achieve it. Most of the religions have focused on renunciation and elimination of desire. Some use this to promise happiness in after life. However one can find happiness in this life and world. Desire is an engine of progress. It should not be suppressed or removed, but should be sublimated into achieving happiness.

Those who seek for happiness from external sources are never really satisfied. A man imagines that if he could have a certain sum of money he would be happy, but if he gets it he is not really content. He wants more. No earthly happiness is lasting: it never remains. The only cause of this lack of happiness is the discomfort of the spirit. If we were offered all the homage and riches of the world if only we would remain floating in the air, we would forgo them all, for our body belongs to the earth. And if a like offer were made to us if we would always stand in the water, we should refuse for the same reason. For our earthly body has its comfort only on earth.

Happiness is being satisfied with what you have. It does not at all matter how much you have. Our basic needs are very limited and the more you have the more problems and cause of unhappiness you shall have. As long as you yearn to have more than what you have, in terms of wealth or amenities or luxury, you will be unhappy. Most people are adept at making hell for them by greed.

They feel they do not have enough. How much is enough? For most of us enough is a little more than what we have. Often we assume that our needs are to be determined on the basis of what our richer neighbors have. We never look down to see how lucky we are compared to those who are not as well off as ourselves. It does not matter whether you are rich or poor to be content or to be greedy. To be happy, one has to be content. Increase of wealth does not increase happiness. It may on the other hand increase the problems and tensions in life and add to one’s misery.

Also, Concentration on a single thought for a long time helps stimulate or "tickle" the pituitary gland and gives a sense of well being. Yogis, researchers and innovators have talked about it since ages. Thus one of the key components of happiness is deep thought for a long time. The inability to do so makes the mind fickle and hence insecure.

The internal security comes from a calm mind, which happens when we are able to focus on a thought for a long time. However deep thought on negative things like harming other living beings does not produce happiness. A possible reason is that the whole brain is not acting in a laser like fashion when thinking about such thoughts. The exact mechanism is however not known.

Similarly a stressed mind gets angry very fast. Anger is an emotion, which takes place when things don't happen the way we want. Thus a mind which can coolly and calmly look at all the possibilities (deep thought helps do that) may have a better conflict and anger resolution capabilities than a shallow thinking mind. Thus insecurity and anger may be related.

These two, viz., one that provides for the future, and one possessed of presence of mind, always enjoys happiness. The man of procrastination, however, is lost. In this connection, listen attentively to the following excellent story of a procrastinating person in the matter of settling his course of action. Everyone meets with destruction, like the procrastinating people, who from want of intelligence cannot divine the hour of danger. That man, again, who regarding himself clever does not seek his own good in proper time, incurs great danger. Hence these two only, viz., he that has much forethought and he that has presence of mind, succeed in obtaining happiness. He, however, that is procrastinating meets with destruction.

Happiness is a state of mind. One may have a lot of wealth and resources and yet be miserable. On the other hand one can find people with meager resources who are happy and it cuts across all economic borders. One of the main reasons for unhappiness is greed. Greed for power, money or resources has no end and so the mind is always fickle and wanting more and more. The modern emphasis on expecting more and more things may fuel short-term development but does not produce long term happiness.

One of the keys to happiness and removal of greed is to cultivate a nimble brain. This is achieved through Sanyam via Yoga. The nimble brain has a tremendous processing power and hence a small amount of information is processed very efficiently. This helps the mind to "get satisfied" with very little information and helps in satiating the desire so that the person can move on.

There is a beautiful story about gods and music. Apparently, gods became very unhappy with the earthlings because of strife, wars and general anarchy in the world. They came to earth and told earthlings that they will destroy them. However, gods wanted to give earthlings a chance so they asked them to give a single reason why they should not be destroyed. "We have produced great beings like Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, etc. who have given us great teachings", said earthlings.

Gods retorted that maximum number of human killings have taken place in the name of religion. Earthlings then recounted the great technological inventions that mankind has produced to which gods replied that there are still some 2 billion people living in tremendous hardship and poverty despite these inventions. The reasoning and response of gods stumped the earthlings.

Then somebody said, "we have produced great music". "Let us hear it", gods replied. The world music including Indian ragas, Bach, Beethoven etc. was played. After listening to the profound music, tears started flowing down the cheeks of gods. "Enough", they said, "you have earned your freedom and right to live". Great music affects humans and gods alike in a deep way. It calms the mind and produces a great sense of well being and euphoria. One also gets a similar experience during deep meditation and Samadhi.

Music affects brain at different levels. Our moods change with different types of music. However, at a very deep level its effect is similar to that of deep meditation. Probably it is a reason why all great religions have stressed music as a means for praying and meditation.

Why does music affect the brain in such a deep way and why does it help in meditation? Recent Positron Emission Tomography (PET) studies have shown that some type of music activates neural pathways similar to those associated with euphoria and reward. These same pathways are activated in response to other pleasurable activities like eating and sex, which give emotional happiness.

Similarly in deep meditation, mind focuses on a single thought for a long time. Thus when contemplation, reflection and Samadhi (together called Sanyam according to Patanjali Yoga Darshan) are done on a single thought then it produces the sense of well being and happiness. In this process a major portion of the 100 billion neurons of the brain are being used in a laser like fashion for a single thought. This deep meditation process helps stimulate or "tickles" the pituitary gland, which gives the feeling of well being. The exact mechanism, though, is still not understood.

In order to gain this peace we have to begin with ourselves. There are fights going on within us between spirit and matter. Struggles for our daily bread, and want of peace in our surroundings. We must first get this peace within ourselves before we can talk of peace in the world. Then we must be at peace with our surroundings, and never do or say anything that disturbs that peace. All thoughts, words, and actions that create peace are virtue. In our dealings with those with whom it is difficult to keep peace, a constant effort to do so has a great effect.

There are two forces in us, love and reason. We must keep an even balance between the two. If we give too much expression to love we become unbalanced and fall into trouble. And if, on the other hand, we lean too much on the side of reason, we become cold.
By Dhananjay Kulkarni