CHAPTER II

Unlimited desires cause unhappiness

All our actions, consciously or unconsciously, are motivated by our quest for happiness. The housewife strives for a clean and orderly house and well-brought up children so that she can be happy with herself. The husband aims to make more money so that he can be happy. We chase money, health, growth, fame, power, property and relationships, not for their own sake but for the satisfaction they promise.

According to the Vedas, there is a gradual increase in happiness as we evolve in life: worldly happiness, mental happiness, spiritual happiness. The first is the happiness that we derive from our routine actions in this world. You enjoy good health… you have a wonderful family life… you have a well paying job. Such happiness is temporary. The second stage is when we strive to achieve the state of mental happiness. This too gives us only temporary joy. What leads to permanent happiness is the realisation of the Self. The dawn of real happiness will be inferred only when there are no self-centered desires any more.

As Swami Vivekananda said, “In this little life of ours, if we can bring even a moment’s joy in another heart, that alone is true religion. Bring joy to others, and you shall attain joy, because the others and us are not different. We are one and the same.”

Happiness is a state of the mind. You will find happiness when you recognise the intrinsic wealth within yourself, instead of seeking wealth from the outside world.
In this materialistic world, human beings are guided by two motivational factors: to acquire wealth and to enjoy this wealth.

But wealth need not be in monetary terms alone. It can also be the desire to excel in one’s chosen field, be it music, sports or car racing. Our desire to achieve motivates us. But often there is no end to our wants. It is this unlimited desire that makes us unhappy.

Detached materialism

I am unhappy because the newspapers say I am the twenty-third richest man of Indian origin. I wonder, why not tenth, third or first. This question makes me unhappy. There is no harm in aspiring to become No 10 or No 1, but when you do not achieve this, do not become unhappy. You need to imbibe in yourself, a level of detachment.

As Swami Prahavananda remarked, “Life consists of a series of rises and falls. One should not get too much elated during the rise or too much depressed during the fall. And at all hours one should try to be in touch with the true Self. In this lies the secret of the balanced state.”

Today’s source of unhappiness can be traced to ignorance and frustration. We fail to understand that happiness is within us. Instead, we continue to chase materialistic happiness.

When we fail to derive happiness from our materialistic acquisitions, we wonder: “What is life?”
Life is a bundle of experiences that we gain when we come in contact with the world. The world comprises two entities, the subject and the object. You are the subject, while everything around you is the object.

Each time you come in contact with the outside world, you gain one unit of experience. The day you stop gaining experiences, that is the day of death of this human body.

An unhappy man in a happy world

The march of science has ensured that humanity at large is happy. Scientists have created a near-perfect world of push-button comfort. But in the process, they forgot to focus on the individual or the subject. Thus, while the world is largely happy, the individual still remains unhappy, unable to overcome worries and anxieties.

As we discussed in the previous chapter, the world comprises four entities: minerals, plants, animals and human beings. Only human beings are endowed with the choice to decide. This fires their quest for knowledge. Though by acquiring knowledge, we have emerged as experts in our respective fields, we still fail to understand ourselves. We fail to comprehend what actions are right, and what are not.

Our perception of what is right or wrong, is clouded by what we have been told by others, be it parents, friends or colleagues. This conditioning right from an early age prevents us from asking questions.

Do not accept anything without questioning

I am reminded of a story which illustrates the impact of conditioning on our lives. A Hindu and Christian gave birth in the same hospital ward. A negligent nurse exchanged the babies. The Hindu child grew up as a devout Christian, while the Christian child was brought up as a pious Hindu.

Another anecdote also exemplifies this point. A Seth was continuously being pestered by his wife to replace his assistant or Munimji, with her brother. Unable to tolerate the wife’s harassment, the Seth decided to put the young man to test.

A lorry was driving past the shop and the Seth asked the wife’s brother to find out what it was transporting. He was back in a minute with the answer: “The lorry is laden with cotton.” The Seth then asked the man about the origin and destination of the lorry. The man ran back to lorry and soon returned with the answer. Then, the Seth asked him about the owner of the lorry and the consignment. Once again, the young man made his enquiries and returned with the answer. This continued for quite a while, with the Seth asking new questions and the young man running back and forth.

The next day the same lorry pulled up before the shop and the Seth sent his old Munimji on a similar errand. Without any prodding, the Munimji asked the relevant questions and returned with all the details that the Seth wanted.

The young man represents today’s generation which has lost its faculty to question. Your faculties begin to rust, the moment you stop questioning.

We worship idols and forget ideals

Our ancient culture was rich and vibrant because our precursors never killed the faculty to question. During the Ramayana period, science was at its peak. We hear of Pushpak and the atom bomb even during those days. These are facts, not part of mythology.

Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara, on the other hand, fall within the domain of mythology. They are concepts, not real people. These were created to educate illiterate people about the phases of life: generation, operation and destruction (GOD). Brahma is the generator, Vishnu is the operator, while Maheshwara is the destructor.

But Ram, Prophet Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Guru Nanak and Bhagawan Mahaveer are real people. They are historical personalities, not mythological figures. They lived in this world. But we have forgotten their message. We perform arthi to the idol of Ram. We have made him a God, but we have forgotten his message to the world. Similarly, how many follow the teaching of Prophet Mohammed or Jesus Christ?

A senior politician approached Sri Sathya Sai Baba a few years ago seeking his help to construct the Ram temple at Ayodhya. The Baba’s instant response was: “Build a temple of Ram in your heart. Worship his ideals, not his idol. Then, I will support you.”

We forget the teachings and get infatuated towards a personality. There is nothing wrong in carrying a picture of my devatha or a Cross with me. It reminds me of my God. But do I follow the teachings of my God in my day-to-day living?

The glory of India

The society during the time of the Ramayana was much more evolved than it is now. It taught the people to look inward and understand themselves. This had the following results:

§ India had the earliest civilisation at Harappa, when the rest of the world was filled with tribes. India could have forcibly acquired most of the world. But in its 10,000 years of history, India has not invaded a single country.

§ The system of numbers evolved in India, with Aryabhata inventing ‘zero’.

§ The world’s first university was established at Takshashila where 10,000 students studied 60 subjects every year.

§ The University of Nalanda was set up in the 4th BC.

§ Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to human beings.

§ The art of navigation evolved in River Sindh 6,000 years ago.

§ Bhaskaracharya was the first to calculate the time taken by the earth to orbit around the sun.

The list is endless. Why did we lose this glory? Because we stopped looking at our own people as wise men. We started looking at the outside world for knowledge. That is when the decline began.

There is a saying in Haryana, Gar ka jogni jogna, bahar ka jogi sidh. While we consider the intellectual within the house as insane, we welcome advice from outsiders as the gospel of truth.

Mental slavery continues

The British came to India through the East India Company. They plundered the country and destroyed everything. India’s share in world trade which was 18 per cent then, is now negligible.

The task of subjugating India was given to Lord Macaulay, who after travelling through the country, returned to London and delivered the following address to the British Parliament on February 2, 1835:

I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think that we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them to be, a truly dominated nation.

When we look at the India of today, there is no doubt that the British succeeded in their game plan. The phase of mental slavery has still not ended. We continue to worship everything that is western, while looking down upon our own rich culture.

Though there has been a perceptible change in the last 15-20 years, prejudices still continue. Indians are respected in the US, in Europe and across the world, but India has a long way to go. The country is divided on the basis of caste, creed and religion. We fight among ourselves. This is biggest plague afflicting India.

Live and Let Live

We are constantly at each other’s throats. You are familiar with the corporate wars in India. Today, the Business Standard carried a report on the setting up of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by Zee. I am sure that by now there are a dozen people devising ways to sabotage our plans. There is still so much more to do in this country, but we continue to prevent others from progressing.

This continues to be the bane of India and Indians.