From IIM Ahmedabad To Happiness

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

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IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
sense of permanent freedom from some irksome liability or limitation, pleasure is only temporary, and conveys no idea of freedom.
Whether we apply the principle to the case of the scientist who accomplishes a successful research project, or to that of the lover who, after a long, long wait, hears the softly whispered 'yes' from the lips of his beloved, the result is the same. In each instance, the emotion of joy springs up in consequence to the belief that never again the same thing be striven for. The sense of freedom from future straining and striving is the direct and immediate cause of joy. Feeling of delight and joy signifies mental ease, i.e., freedom from care, hence the state of buoyancy and light-heartedness, which is a necessary concomitant of release from anxiety.
For us go-getters, however, joy itself has become a shortlived condition, inasmuch as our desires, i.e., ideals and pursuits, seldom leave us time to enjoy the natural joy of being. No sooner than is any work accomplished, we manage to impose two more in its place, by our ignorant and unnatural living. We do not ever feel that, at last, we now have enough; our desires keep on inflating and we keep on striving for more. As a result, the time available for enjoying ourselves after each achievement' shrinks. The question of lasting joy gets lost in our never-ending pursuits.
Man alone. of all beings in the world. is endowed with the capacity, and enjoys the opportunity, to think of his destiny. He alone has the power of shaping his future, for weal or woe, as he pleases. But this capacity is hopelessly crippled by his wrong desires - the sensual desires. It is true that we can boast of our material accomplishments which ultimately reduce to this that we have succeeded in amassing large fortunes, and in devising various means for squandering them in expensive hotels and cardtables, on foods and intoxicating drinks, to say nothing of other degenerate forms of living. As regards nations and societies, the
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