L-3 Happiness and Prosper

L-3 The Basic Human Aspirations – Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
Exploring Happiness and Prosperity

Happiness
Try to recollect situations when you feel happy. You will see that there is a set of feelings
which you are able to accept effortlessly and naturally. These are feelings such as trust,
respect, being confident about your future etc. These feelings are naturally and effortlessly
acceptable to each one of us. We also welcome these feelings and desire them to continue in
ourselves. When we observe such feelings, we find that these are the situations when we are
in harmony and these feelings are a reflection of that harmony. Take for example: respect.
Respect is a state of harmony between two human beings. When I respect the other and the
other respects me, I like to be in that situation. It gives me happiness. Similarly, looking
within me, when I have harmony in my thoughts, my feelings, I feel relaxed, happy. If this
harmony is disturbed, I feel uneasy.
We can thus understand Happiness as
“The state/situation in which I live, if there is harmony/synergy in it, then I like to be
in that state or situation.”
i.e. “To be in a state of liking is happiness.”
When we are in such a state of happiness – we experience no struggle, no contradiction
or conflict within and we enjoy such a state of being. And we wish to have its continuity.
On the other hand, when we experience feelings such as failure, disrespect, lack of
confidence, being doubtful in ourselves or about others, we feel unhappy as they are states
of conflict. These are the states when there is lack of harmony, either within us or between
us and others. We do not wish for a continuation of these feelings within and want to try
and change them – we can call this unhappiness. We can thus state unhappiness as:
“The state/situation in which I live, if there is conflict/contradiction in it, then I do
not like to be in that state or situation.”
i.e. “To be in a state of disliking is unhappiness”
Thus, we can define happiness and unhappiness as
“To be in a state of harmony is happiness.”
“To be in a state of disharmony or contradiction is unhappiness”
It is important to point out that we do get an impression of happiness through our
sensory interaction also such as while eating tasty food, seeing a beautiful picture, smelling
a sweet fragrance, etc. However, these impressions of happiness are always short-lived and
their continuity can never be ensured. In fact, all attempts to seek the continuity of happiness
through sensory interaction only leads to more and more misery.
Prosperity
It is easy to see that prosperity is related to material things or what we call as ‘physical
facilities’. Think of all the things we need today. We use a brush to clean our teeth,
clothes to wear, food to eat, vessels to cook and eat the food in, a pair of spectacles, a two
wheeler or a four wheeler vehicle, a radio set, a mobile phone etc. So we need physical
things to take care of our body and these need to be catered to. When we are able to cater
to the needs of the body adequately, we feel prosperous.
Therefore,
Prosperity: is the feeling of having or making available more than required physical facilities.
To ascertain prosperity, two things are essential:
(a) Correct assessment of need for physical facilities, and
(b) The competence of making available more than required physical facilities (through
production).
One thing can be clearly stated that we can be prosperous only if there is a limit to the need
for physical facilities. If there is no limit, whatsoever be the availability with us, the feeling
of prosperity cannot be assured. Physical facilities are the needs of the body and
their need is limited in time and quantity. Thus we can identify a limit to these needs and
evaluate whether we have enough.
Secondly, just assessing the need is not enough. We need to be able to produce or make
available more than the perceived need. Thus, prosperity can be clearly understood and
evaluated.
While understanding prosperity, let us also look at another point - the difference between
wealth and prosperity. Is there a difference? For example, let’s assume I have a lot of wealth;
a lot of money. You come to my house, but I get worried that you may stay back longer
than expected and I might have to feed you, tea, snacks or even a meal. It is a funny
situation, but it may happen. What would we call this state? A person has a lot of money,
but does not want to share even a bit of it. The person has wealth, but feels “deprived”; in
other words the person does not have a feeling of being prosperous. If one felt prosperous,
he/she would have shared what one has, since there is more than enough wealth anyway.
On the other hand someone who does not have a lot of wealth may welcome you into his/
her house and ask you to stay back for a few days and help you out. This is an indication of
feeling prosperous. Thus, we can see that:
Wealth is a physical thing. It means having money, or having a lot of physical facilities,
or both.
Prosperity is a feeling of having more than required. Prosperity is a feeling of having
more than required physical facilities; it is not just physical facilities.
This is a very important distinction. We mostly fail to make this distinction today. We
keep working for wealth, without realizing that the basic desire is for the feeling of
prosperity,
to have a feeling of having enough. Let’s ask ourselves, “What is naturally acceptable to
me?”:
Accumulating more and more wealth while feeling deprived,
OR
Having requisite wealth and feeling prosperous.
We find the latter naturally acceptable. Not only do we want wealth, but we want to
feel prosperous too. In other words, our basic desire is to feel prosperous, and wealth is a
means to that end. In order to feel prosperous, we need to first decide how much wealth/
physical things is needed, else it is like trying to fill water in a glass that has no bottom; the
glass will never be filled, howsoever, one may try.
We see that today, we are generally unable to do this. We are busy accumulating wealth,
but we don’t feel prosperous! This is because, we do not identify our needs, and hence, no
matter how much we have, it is always less, and we feel deprived!
It is also important to point out that since for all our physical facilities, we are directly
or indirectly dependent on nature, the continuity of prosperity can be ensured only if our
production systems are in harmony with the nature. This implies that we use natural
resources in a renewable manner and utilize appropriate technologies so that the human
needs are satisfied and nature is also enriched. For example, we need food for the body. We
grow grains in our fields. If the farming method is such that it retains/enhances the fertility
of the soil, we can continue growing grains on the same piece of land and keep feeding our
body. Otherwise, the land may turn barren after sometime and we may have to go without
food.
SOURCES OF HAPPINESS
1. Right Understanding
Harmony at all levels of being
Human Being, Family, Society, Nature/Existence
– in Self (I) Definite completion point, Continuity is possible,
Self-organization (Swatantrata)
2. Right Feeling Trust, Respect, Affection, Care, Guidance,
Reverence, Glory, Gratitude, Love
– in Self (I) Definite completion point, Continuity is possible,
Self-organization (Swatantrata)
– From Other Temporary, Dependence on Other,
No completion point, Continuity not possible
3. Sensation, PF Sound, Touch, Form, Taste, Smell
– Through Body Temporary, Dependence on Body & Other,
No completion point, Continuity not possible
Tasty-Necessary  Tasty-Unnecessary  Tasteless-Unnecessary 
Intolerable
QUESTIONS
1. "To be in a state of harmony is happiness." Examine this statement and illustrate with two
examples from your day-to-day life.
2. What do you understand by prosperity? What is the difference between prosperity and
wealth? How are the two related?
3. What is your present vision of a happy and prosperous life?
4. Critically examine the prevailing notions of happiness and prosperity and their
consequences.
5. "I will learn and improve only if I am unhappy. If I become happy, my learning will stop"-
Explore the validity of this viewpoint.
6. How can meaning of happiness be universal?
Or how can happiness be the same for everyone?
7. Everyone in this world is working for one’s own happiness. So is it not right to say
that everyone is selfish in this world?
8. Such discussions on prosperity have been there for ages, still people are accumulating
and exploiting. Can it ever be resolved?

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L-3 The Basic Human Aspirations – Continuous Happiness and Prosperity

Exploring Happiness and Prosperity

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