I wonder sometimes...what is our goal in our lives...we perform our daily chores...go to schools and colleges for our education...we strive for getting a good CGPA; a well paid job or and an acceptance from Stanford or Yale....But is this our ultimate goal in life??......NO...but then what is??...when we search our souls for an answer...most of us would find something in common - to seek Happiness...
But then the next obvious question arises...What is Happiness??..Almost everyone who believe that happiness in the goal of their lives have a common stand... they believe that if they are happy then their lives are fulfilled...But then there are different levels of happiness...They have to choose between the lower and higher types of happiness...between worldly pleasures and beyond worldly happiness..
No doubt pleasure should be distinguished from happiness, because there is certainly a very big difference in quality..
'Pleasure is simple physical, mental, emotional, or sensual satisfaction derived from external sources. Happiness on the other hand is related to our mind and soul and it involves a deep sense of fulfillment and contentment.'
A few weeks back, I was working for one of my seniors for her thesis work. Her place was like around 1km from my hostel. I used to walk to her place in the morning(my morning starts at around 1pm) and used to come back to my hostel by 7 (our curfew )..During the first phase of her work; i.e the sheet work I used to go everyday for about a week...When the second phase i.e. the model making started, she called me and asked me to come to her place the following morning...I said I'd go...The next morning she again called to wake me up...I got up, but at that time I was soo repelled by the thought of leaving my cosy bed and walking for around 20 mins in the heat of Raipur that I pulled my covers again and slept....and hence chose to have pleasure instead of doing what I was supposed to do..
Now on the day of the final jury, her work was not 100% complete...when I went to the college to watch the jury, she was still working on her model, unlike her batch-mates who had completed their works earlier and were chitchatting...Now that gave me a jolt, and I realized that had I walked to her place that day and helped her out instead of lying cosily in my bed, perhaps now even her work would have been complete like the others...I was feeling kinda guilty...and most importantly...I was not Happy...
Thats because I chose Pleasure instead of Happiness...'Pleasure is superficial and shallow. It is temporary and develops under specific circumstances and springs from specific object or activity. Nothing is permanent in pleasure. Happiness on the other hand is permanent and long-lasting and brings a glow of well being and contentment when something deep withing us is being satisfied'..
Being happy is not a very difficult task to achieve. Happiness is free like natural air or water. It does not cost us anything. We just have to be willing to be happy...Its a matter of choice...In fact life is all about choices...you choose to love others; u love...u choose to hate; u hate...u choose to do well in studies...to do well...u don't choose to do well...u don't...and most importantly...u can choose, if u want, to be happy...and on the other hand u can also choose to be unhappy and miserable...It depends on you what you would like to choose...A happy life can be created uniquely by any person...You don't need any external agent to be happy..And thus you can become what you want to become- A Happy person, or an un-Happy person...because Happiness is something that can be found inside you....you just have to search for it ...;)
References: 'The secret to happiness', The Economic Times, Kolkata, Dec, 2007.
But then the next obvious question arises...What is Happiness??..Almost everyone who believe that happiness in the goal of their lives have a common stand... they believe that if they are happy then their lives are fulfilled...But then there are different levels of happiness...They have to choose between the lower and higher types of happiness...between worldly pleasures and beyond worldly happiness..
No doubt pleasure should be distinguished from happiness, because there is certainly a very big difference in quality..
'Pleasure is simple physical, mental, emotional, or sensual satisfaction derived from external sources. Happiness on the other hand is related to our mind and soul and it involves a deep sense of fulfillment and contentment.'
A few weeks back, I was working for one of my seniors for her thesis work. Her place was like around 1km from my hostel. I used to walk to her place in the morning(my morning starts at around 1pm) and used to come back to my hostel by 7 (our curfew )..During the first phase of her work; i.e the sheet work I used to go everyday for about a week...When the second phase i.e. the model making started, she called me and asked me to come to her place the following morning...I said I'd go...The next morning she again called to wake me up...I got up, but at that time I was soo repelled by the thought of leaving my cosy bed and walking for around 20 mins in the heat of Raipur that I pulled my covers again and slept....and hence chose to have pleasure instead of doing what I was supposed to do..
Now on the day of the final jury, her work was not 100% complete...when I went to the college to watch the jury, she was still working on her model, unlike her batch-mates who had completed their works earlier and were chitchatting...Now that gave me a jolt, and I realized that had I walked to her place that day and helped her out instead of lying cosily in my bed, perhaps now even her work would have been complete like the others...I was feeling kinda guilty...and most importantly...I was not Happy...
Thats because I chose Pleasure instead of Happiness...'Pleasure is superficial and shallow. It is temporary and develops under specific circumstances and springs from specific object or activity. Nothing is permanent in pleasure. Happiness on the other hand is permanent and long-lasting and brings a glow of well being and contentment when something deep withing us is being satisfied'..
Being happy is not a very difficult task to achieve. Happiness is free like natural air or water. It does not cost us anything. We just have to be willing to be happy...Its a matter of choice...In fact life is all about choices...you choose to love others; u love...u choose to hate; u hate...u choose to do well in studies...to do well...u don't choose to do well...u don't...and most importantly...u can choose, if u want, to be happy...and on the other hand u can also choose to be unhappy and miserable...It depends on you what you would like to choose...A happy life can be created uniquely by any person...You don't need any external agent to be happy..And thus you can become what you want to become- A Happy person, or an un-Happy person...because Happiness is something that can be found inside you....you just have to search for it ...;)
References: 'The secret to happiness', The Economic Times, Kolkata, Dec, 2007.
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