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Life An Odyssey

“Happiness is the ultimate goal – it is the goal of all other goals”

By Dr Manish Maladkar M.D. (BOM), MCCP (USA).

 

life an odyssey cover finalWhatever you strive for, your wish is to be happy. You undertake efforts to be happy. Yet you are unhappy. And therein lies the contradiction. For if you were really happy, you would have been contended by now. But it is not to be. Your search continues …

This is so since desire are like fire – always insatiable and unsatisfied. You can put all the fuel in the world into the fire and yet it will remain unsatisfied. At no time the fire will want no more of your fuel. Similar is the nature of your desires. In fact the more you fulfill the desires, the more is the hunger. And it’s never ending. But then if you had all things in the world, then where will you keep them? I recall a story wherein a crab leaving the seashore chose a green field nearby as its feeding ground. A fox came across him and being hungry ate him up. At that moment the crab said, “I well deserve my fate, for what business had I on the land, when by my nature and habits, I am only adapted for the sea?” Hence to be happy you have to learn to be contented. You have to have the realization that happiness is your basic state with which you are already born. And then you go against nature to be happy. And that makes you unhappy. You have to know that all happiness is n advance booking for sadness. All those things that make you happy, will be the very ones, I repeat, the very ones which will cause you unhappiness. Reflect on this and analyse for yourself that the very things that gave you joy are responsible for your sorrow.

So to be happy you have to actually try not to try to be happy. And that will make you happy. That’s the state you were born with. That is the state you need to live with. This is the state you need to die with.

Then how to be happy in our lives. You have to know that the happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes their way. Put an attitude in your gratitude. When you awake in the morning, be grateful for the sunlight, be grateful for the simple fact that you are breathing, be grateful for all that you have. Acknowledge the joy of living. And for any reason you feel no gratitude then the fault is with yourself. Admitting you are wrong is proving you are wise today. Laugh a lot now, even if you have no specific reason. Remember happiness is your basic state. So to laugh will not be mad, but not to laugh will be bad. Laughter is nothing but internal jogging. Your lungs get exercise, your circulation improves, so laugh for that reason, if need be!

Today is tomorrow you look forward to yesterday. Emerson has said “The only thing grief has taught me is how shallow it is.”  For that matter even if there is death, recall Irving who said that “The natural effect of sorrow over the dead is to refine and elevate mind.” Indeed, death teaches you lot of things, most of all to be humble. Death gives you newer & better perspectives but whenever we see death of some one, we somehow miss the point. What that death is trying to each you?

The problem today is that we know too much but think and feel too little. Take for example that you want your children to be happy and their happiness is related to yours. Then just do two things, give them roots and give them wings. And once you do that don’t try to clip their wings. Let them fly and in their flight, seek your happiness. If you try to clip their wings, then not only will they be unhappy but will make you too! Man is born free and yet unfortunately he is bound in chains. What a paradox!

To be happy you have to maintain respect due to yourself. Often out of love you tend to neglect that what is due and in turn you become unhappy. Let not others determine your happiness. For unhappy those who are, will ensure your unhappiness. Give others not the key to your happiness. People love themselves the most but when it comes to an opinion of self, they value their less and others more. People who don’t know what respect means will often disrespect you. There was this dog which jumped into the manger of an ox for a nap on the straw. The ox returning from its noon work wanted to eat some of the straw. The dog in a rage, being awakened from its slumber, stood and barked and attempted to bite the ox whenever it came near. At last the ox had to give up the hope of getting at the straw and went away. This only tells you that people often envy others what they cannot enjoy themselves.

“And then, before I end, let me wish you, enough happiness to make you sweat, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to make you human and enough hope to make you happy.

Excerpted with permission from:

Life-An Odyssey Time Tested Mantras Providing Solutions to Life’s Problems

By Dr. Manish Maladkar

Published by Unicorn Books available for Rs. 150/- at all leading book stores.

For online purchase: www.drmanishmaladkar.com