Vedanta - The Path to Happiness
P V VAIDYANATHAN
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What do we want from life?
And why do we want what we want? The answer to the first question will not only vary from person to person, but also from time to time. The answer to what we want would be different at different stages of our lives -it would depend on our financial, educational, social, emotional, psychological, material, relationships, health or professional status.Some might want a degree, others wish to clear their exams, while some others might want a job. In middle age, the emphasis would be on stability , job satisfaction, hobbies, purpose, self-worth and on one's children and their futu re. In old age, it would be about health, money , lone liness, death and disease.
If you go to the second qu estion of why we want what we want, most answers given by people anywhere in the world would sound similar. The usual answer to the why is: because it will make me happy , it will bring peace, because it will end suffering, bring harmony , freedom, purpose, or because it will bring joy and satisfaction.
Interestingly , if we could only reverse the questions, and make the second question the first, and start finding answers for that, life would become far simpler. We all want happiness, but we don't know how to get it. Happiness is different things to different people. So, answer the second question first, and do those things that make you happy . Then whether you succeed or fail outwardly, it would not matter.
And why do we want what we want? The answer to the first question will not only vary from person to person, but also from time to time. The answer to what we want would be different at different stages of our lives -it would depend on our financial, educational, social, emotional, psychological, material, relationships, health or professional status.Some might want a degree, others wish to clear their exams, while some others might want a job. In middle age, the emphasis would be on stability , job satisfaction, hobbies, purpose, self-worth and on one's children and their futu re. In old age, it would be about health, money , lone liness, death and disease.
If you go to the second qu estion of why we want what we want, most answers given by people anywhere in the world would sound similar. The usual answer to the why is: because it will make me happy , it will bring peace, because it will end suffering, bring harmony , freedom, purpose, or because it will bring joy and satisfaction.
Interestingly , if we could only reverse the questions, and make the second question the first, and start finding answers for that, life would become far simpler. We all want happiness, but we don't know how to get it. Happiness is different things to different people. So, answer the second question first, and do those things that make you happy . Then whether you succeed or fail outwardly, it would not matter.
