AUM
LEARNING ROPES TO HAPPINESS
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
With the
permission of our readers, may I say again : Happiness is a state of mind. That explains why I say it aloud every now
and then: old boy, your mental make up says that you may not live long to be a
Centenarian. I dismiss the idea as it is hostile to my game plan. I command
myself “ Get up, get going and learn from the experience of sages of yore to
imbibe that and merge with the day-to-day life of modern times The difference
between the Gurukul life of yore and the life in a modern Gurukul is
tremendous. In the interest of the Vedic way of life ,we may abjure a
comparison between the two. Both are products of the Vedic way of life but the
long gap in time and living has made them two separate entities. . Remind
yourself that Happiness Is yours just for the asking. Indeed there are certain
pragmatic steps that the man or a woman seeking
happiness has to imbibe until It becomes his and her second nature.
Let us take
a look at our time table of learning basic steps that would take us to our El
Dorado where one lives and learns the basic ropes with eye set on the ultimate
goal; happiness.
ALBERT SCHWAITZER
has observed people around and lived life as a pragmatic philosopher. He says :
“ Success is not the key to
happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you
will be successful.”
Happiness Is
a state of mind characterized by contentment and satisfaction .Sources of
happiness are diverse and unique. So are the people we come across. After
having talked to men and women from different sections of the society both in
India that is Bharat and abroad, it is found that certain common factors
emerge. Let us take a look at them. I call those factors that lead to happiness
as the Golden Nine.
GOLDEN NINE
Many
observant friends and colleagues of mine, both in uniform and in the civil
society have had an engrossing chat with me on the road that leads to citadel
of happiness. I concurred with some and differed with others. Here I give a
resume of what our common and combined operation and observations were. These
Nine factors have been worked out and chosen after a brain-storming session.
UNSHAKABLE
BELIEF IN ISHWAR
When I need
Divine help, I pray for it. Believe me, the help was always around corner and
came on time. Of course, I too never sat idle. I used to strive for a
favourable solution and also pray to Param Pita Parmatma. There was a
confluence of prayer and purusharth. This kind of confluence never
goes haywire. I took the first step to the rope and climbed clumsily but I
did come to know the ropeway to happiness. Thus the journey that began that way
refused to stop despite clumsy attempts o f second ladder of relations and
friends to throw a red herring. As stated before, my wife chose to hover around
me and so did the daughter. In India, that is Bharat blood is still
thicker and stronger than
water.
Spiritualism is worth looking for as a pillar of strength.
There are no rituals but the belief in
the Nirakar ISHWAR who is omnipresent and sees all without being seen
firms up. Here is the natural reserve of strength that a supplicant may draw
from as and when the need arises. Thus when a devotee has the divine strength
to fall back upon, he cannot but be Happy.
POSITIVE
THINKING
Positive
Thinking is not mere absence of NegativeThinking. When one ceases to think or
act in a manner that causes pain and grief or a loss to others no more due to
an act or omission of the gentleman that is, we may say that the said person
has given up Negative attitude to life and sailed to the state where he or she entertains only Positive
Attitude to life and letters. In this kind of frame of mind, there are no
commas but full stops only. An individual with a Positive Attitude to life cannot but be happy.
BE YOURSELF
Natural way
of life is a happy way of life. Be yourself and never try to put up a show. Please do not show off either because
that show would be without naturalness. Happiness lives in a natural person but
abandons a soul that shows off. An unnatural life or an unnatural act leads to
punishment as they violate one law or the other. If you are your natural self,
you are a happy man.
LAUGHTER IS
LOVELY
The Reader’s
Digest runs a column of jokes taken from all societies and published unedited.
The jokes in their natural form are either a hit or a miss. In this case, I
find that the joke was a hit and guests
had gone delirious. They are all happy men and women. Laughter is a piece of
evidence to prove that the man who laughs a lot is indeed a happy man.
A good
laughter strengthens the lungs and prevents cardio-vascular problems .Laugh a
lot and effect a tremendous saving on medical bills. A healthy person is indeed
a happy person.
LIVE IN THE
PRESENT
Happiness follows
one who lives in the Present. You feel the Present and you solve the problem of
the Present. Those who live in the past lose touch with the Present and in due
course of time become incompetent to tackle the present day crises. Those who
live in the Future are invariably gripped with Fear of the Unknown. FEAR is the
biggest enemy of Man. To overcome this, the VEDAS suggest chanting o a Mantra and fortifying your beliefs to
make your mind ABHAY – free from fear. A fearful person can never be happy. A fearless
person will always be happy.
CULTIVATE
CULTURE
Fine Arts,
Music –vocal or instrumental ,painting or forming a word picture of an event or individual are various branches of
Culture. The culture has to be cultivated by an
individual because it does not
come on its own. In difficult times, one
may paint or sing or play on a musical instrument and divert the mind from
problems that cause unhappiness. When unhappiness or a
tense atmosphere is taken care of, a
relaxed atmosphere will replace a
tense situation. Happiness will follow as a natural corollary.
HAVE HEALTHY
SEX
The sexual
attraction draws a man and a woman close to each other. They not only admire
each other but also touch gently or
grope into the forbidden zone. If both are adults, they proceed further in the
privacy of a house or a garden and have sexual intercourse. That mutual act is
indeed a source of joy. More of it gives more joy. So, having healthy sex
between two consenting adult males in
the privacy of the house is now legal as per a judgement of the
Delhi High Court. Since sex is a source
of joy, so go ahead and have more of it until you are happy and wish to enhance
the state of sex-generated happiness no more.
MAN IS WHAT
HE EATS
Mind is the
man. The way you eat, what you eat and
how much you eat will determine your mental make-up and physical
body. One of the Vedic Rishis who
was also a physician had
recommended to both the masses and the classes all about the food
intake. In anutshell,his advice
was: Eat
what is beneficial to mind and
body. Thus healthy diet of green leafy vegetables, no red meat and over-spiced dishes,a lot of fluid and
abjuring junk food was described as a
source of happiness. Secondly, eat less than what your stomach can accommodate. Finally ,eat food bought
with money earned by the sweat of brow and not by murdering the moneyed men.
Indeed, a
lot of emphasis was placed on a lean diet, a healthy diet and an honest
purchase of food. Well, it is this kind of food that may be joy-generating.
HEALTHY MIND
IN HEALTHY BODY
Right from
childhood I have been hearing from the school counselors that a systematic
daily exercise will keep the body fit and a mental exercise will not let mind
be lethargic. Since everybody wishes to live long ,one patiently listens to the
piece of advice that is repeatedly given
by both the PT instructors and other
teachers. However, words are not enough
to see you through. Practice and practice will
make a man healthy. Health and
happiness are twins. A healthy
man is a happy man._________________________
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