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I am an Eye and Retina Surgeon. Special interest in Diabetic Eye Diseases. I Blog to unravel the jumbled answers within me...to hold your hand when youre down.... to make you laugh.... to find The One. .... e mail: diabeticeyeclinic@gmail.com

Wednesday 31 October 2012

What is happiness?

What is happiness?

Happiness is what you are. Happiness is the state of your Soul, your being, the One.

That is how all of us are born. No worries no tensions, no wants, no anxieties. That is why you see a baby and you feel unalloyed happiness. And that is why all of us loves a baby, because, here we see in front of us this being that is unadulterated joy. The state all of us aspire to. And yet somehow it eludes us.

Why?

Before we go into the academics of it, let us hear a story.

A man went to Kashmir. Saw its ethereal and eternal beauty. Then he rented a houseboat on Dal lake. Was further impressed with the joy of natures beauty. He looked at the boatman, lounging around in the sun, chewing on a lotus stem and looking at the mountains on the horizon.
So the man went up to the boatman and said: “Beautiful view, isn’t it?’
“Hmmmm”
“Kashmir is heaven on earth, rightly said, isn’t it?”
“Hmmmm”
“You own a houseboat in paradise, but you aren’t working hard enough.”
“Hmmmmm”
“You should build a web site, post pictures, have a feedback mechanism.”
“And then what”
“That will attract more tourists, especially foreign tourists and educated tourists.”
 “And then what”
“That will bring in much more trade, much more work, you’ll buy more boats, maybe have an office, some staff”
“And then what”
“Then you’ll have a Vacation Company, some charters, lots of business.”
“And then what”
“You’ll earn lots and lots of money.”
“And then what”
“Then you’ll be able to take vacations in Switzerland, Alaska cruise, see the most beautiful places.”
“What exactly do you think I am doing just now?”, said the boatman and went back to his lounging and lazy munching on the lotus stem.

Happiness is here and now. In this moment. All of us, not aware of how much will we live and what will be our future, plan too much for it. Let me work hard just now, do these business trips just now, do this 14 hour day just now, do these yearly target drives just now……. I will play with my son tomorrow. I will hold my wife’s hand and watch the sunset tomorrow. I will have a vacation with my far off cousins the next year. I will learn painting later on, when I have the time. I will watch my daughters kindergarten play the next year. I will take a walk on the beach everyday from next year. ……. You plan too much, as if you want to live forever or that you are going to live forever.

The only moment in your control is here and just now.  What you can change is just now.

If you sit back just now, for the next 5 minutes and remember…..the best moments of your life didn’t involve too much money or luxuries or yatches or parties. Your best moments were the ones spent holding a toddlers hand, running after your child, holding your beloved hand, trekking that mountain with your buddies, lying on your back and looking at the stars at night at your family’s ancestral home.

Then why all this heartburn, this drive, this work, this lack of timeless perpetually? So that you have a better pension?  So that you have a bigger home, when old?  So that you may have a car when old?

You may have all that. But you wont have the time? You wont have your loved ones by your side. They’ll have moved on. Or maybe some circumstance, some calamity will take away all that you planned for, all that you worked your ass off for.

The only moment in your control is here and now.

And if you think hard, your fears, your anxieties, your troubles are also all in the future. In this one microsecond, one moment, while you read this- you are free, doing what you love, of your choice.   

And do not let me define your happiness for you. You know inherently what makes you happy. It may painting, it may be doing social service, it may be reading books or it may be making music.

Also we are impressed /anxious about and allow Society perception to define our happiness. "If i feel happy in travelling by train and not taking a plane, i must be perceived as middle class". "If i feel happy by listening to Classical music and not rap, my friends may perceive me as not hip". " If i feel happy being nice to people who serve me, i may be perceived as too tacky"....... See, there itself, your happiness is being constrained.  

Happiness is in your control, here and now. In this One Moment you are free, unsullied, unattached……. You are the One.

The Promise of the Soul Healer.

2 comments:

  1. the one who can make you happy is you. the others who/which you think makes you happy is the reflection of your own happy self. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very well written doc... loved it all the way....

    ReplyDelete