From IIM Ahmedabad To Happiness

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

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FROM IIM-AHMEDABAD TO HAPPINESS
richest of them may possess enormous amount of wealth, its cities and towns may be very beautiful to look at, and it may boast of all the luxuries of life which the ingenuity of man has ever put at the disposal of wealth, yet the question arises, what real happiness has been conferred upon the people constituting them. It is not to deny the great advantages that the educational institutions, hospitals and old-age homes bring to the society. But it is also true that the education that our institutions, particularly of higher ‘professional learning, impart tends not to advance the cause of individual happiness, but leads to atheism, impiety and godlessness. Very little, if at all, of our traditional wisdom - which is of true value to human life - remains in the portals of our educational institutions and whatever is left has lost its lustre and charm in the eyes of the youth. The increasing necessity of hospitals goes to indicate that people do not live in harmony with Nature and, consequently, suffer from poverty and disease. The old-age homes, a concept rather new to our societies, indicates nothing but disintegration of our families and surfacing of our selfish nature. The greatest defect of materialism is that it prevents us from realization of our divine nature, by unduly developing the sensuous side of life.
We have made so much of our pursuit of pleasure that we have lost sight of its actual meaning. Let us try to understand the difference between pleasure and joy. The former is merely a gratification of the senses, thus, fleeting and short-lived (Chambers 20th Century Dictionary: From O.French plaisir – 'to please' - agreeable emotions: gratification of the senses or of the mind; sensuality; dissipation; a source of gratification). The word pleasure, when unqualified, expresses less excitement, or happiness, than delight or joy. Pleasure is an affair of the senses, and its actual experience is confined to the time during which they are engaged with their objects. For example, food is palatable and
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