Every human being’s ultimate aim in life is to be happy. It
is towards this ever eluding happiness all human endeavors are aimed at. Our
Work, Business, Politics, Recreation everything is intended to provide this
Happiness, not only to us, but also to all those who are around us. When the
whole world is trying to reach this Mirage called Happiness, our country has
devised its own unique approach to be Happy always. It’s a product of our very
ancient Vedic Cultural Heritage, its Yoga. Yoga, as popularly misunderstood, is
not mere Asanas and Breathing practices. Yoga is wonderful science, which uses
our Body and Mind as a tool to get liberated from the very same Body and Mind
complex.
Our scriptures say
that we are embodiment of happiness. But to realize this, which is the core of
our personality, we have to get detached from bondages. We will be able to see that
the entire creation is divine once we get ourselves detached from our bondages.
Seeing the entire creation as one is the path to the abode of Happiness. Swami
Vivekananda said, “Religion is not in Doctrines, in Dogmas, nor in intellectual
argumentation; it is being and becoming, it is Realisation”.
Yoga helps us to get this vairagya, which is
essential for getting the detachment. If we cling on to the lower truths, our
spiritual quest can never become true. Then happiness will forever be a dream
to be achieved. In fact we cling on to the bondages because we think that they
are the sources of happiness. We also misunderstand that happiness means
enjoyment. And try to pursue Happiness through enjoyment. But how do we pursue
happiness effectively? After all, some recent scientific research actually
cautions us against the pursuit of happiness. For instance, a study led by Iris
Mauss, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley,
found that people instructed to feel happier while watching a pleasant film
clip actually ended up feeling worse than people who were instructed just to
watch the clip. Findings like this are echoed in the popular press. Renowned Writer
Ruth Whippman wrote in a recent New York Times article that the pursuit of
happiness is a “recipe for neurosis.” But then is happiness a dream which can
never be achieved? Are we doomed to fail at the pursuit of happiness? It depends.
The difference between effectively and ineffectively pursuing happiness may all
be in how we go about it. Research suggests that people who strive to feel
happy all of the time may suffer disappointment, and people who pursue
happiness as if it were the only thing that matters may, ironically, chase
happiness away. It’s because we search happiness in material beings and forget
the real source of happiness.
But in yogic lore Santhosha which is the term many
people misconstrue for happiness actually means contentment. It is not about
enjoying or possessing valuables but being content with what life has given to
you. If our mind is tuned with the help of yoga to get this santhosha
then as a natural progression we will be able to get Ananda, the real
happiness.
We, as a society, once gave this unending elixir of
happiness to the humanity. Now, once again it is our responsibility to remind
the world and also us, that the search for happiness can end with realizing
that Ananda, which comes through proper understanding and practice of
this wonderful Vedic technique called Yoga.
V.V.Balasubramanian
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