Happiness - continued

Shortly after I wrote on Happiness, I happen to read a related article in a newspaper ('Vijaya Karnataka'). If any of you remember the author, let me know, I forgot his name.

Anyways, the article focussed on a survey by a London-based psychology team and it was termed World Happiness Survey. The study found that Nigeria was the happiest country in the world. The third world countries like Bangladesh, Ivory Coast and developing countries like India were happier as opposed to the 'Developed' countries like US, UK, Russia and others. If you are surprised at this result then sit back and think again, 'Can money buy happiness?'

The article (not the study) has given some illustrations to ponder over. One such example was the life of a hotelier. There was a waiter in a tourist hotel in Uttar Pradesh, India. He was earning a very meager salary though he was a hard worker. He was greatly dependent on the tips the visitors gave him. But he had a dream to own a big hotel someday. And it so happened that the owner of the hotel was about leave the city permanently and put his property on sale. The waiter approached him with the small amount of money he had saved and his wife's ornaments. Clearly the amount no way came close to the property he wished to buy. But the hotelier had belief in him and asked him to pay the remaining amount in installments. He took special interest in the management of his new hotel and raised the profit bars month after month. He finally owned it! But that wasn't all he had dreamed. His hard work made him move closer to his dream and he established The Oberoi group of Hotels.

He was not only a big name in the hotelier's list but also was addressed many a times as the most successful person. His assets were sky high and he was a powerful personality. But he had lost son in an accident; divorce cases, ill health and many other problems were left unsolved in his personal life. He wasn't happy at all. When asked about it he had replied, "The happiest moments in my life were the days when I was a waiter in a small hotel." After all, what is the use of so much of wealth, power and fame when you are not HAPPY?

We see happiness in a horse called money and run behind it until we realize that the horse is actually an illusion. But in the bargain, we would have lost some costly things in life - family life, kids, friends, social and religious life. And it is difficult to gain them back because your Money cannot buy you Family, Kids... Ever wondered why is it so? Allan Watts puts it very deftly - "Happiness is not a result to be attained through action, but a fact to be realized through Knowledge. The sphere of action is to express it, not to gain it." Life gives each one of us some pleasurable moments and some painful moments. It's not a matter of how many pleasurable moments you had against those painful. It is how you react to them. Such things are better dealt with when you have a sound family, friends, social and religious life. How far can you expect money to help you at those times?

So, it makes me feel happy when I can sleep peacefully for 6 hours a day (and many other apparent small things) because I have something which a millionaire may not be having! Doesn't it make you happy too? Just as we compare ourselves with others in terms of money and assets, why can't we compare ourselves in terms of Happiness? Think about it. You can express the answer!