The Meaning of Happiness
- by S. N. Goenka
(The following is adapted from Goenkaji”s address "Is This All There Is
The Meaning of Happiness" at the World Economic Forum, Davos on 31 January 2000.)
Every person who is attending this Forum is among a unique group of people on our planet. They are generally among the wealthiest, most powerful most accomplished inpiduals in the world. Even being invited to attend the World Economic Forum is recognition of the eminent status that each participant has reached among his or her peers. When someone has all the wealth, power and status that anyone could ever want, are they necessarily happy
Are all these accomplishments and the self-satisfaction they bring “all there is”
Or is there some greater degree of happiness, which it is possible to achieve
Happiness is an ephemeral condition. It is rapidly fleeting; here one moment and gone the next. One day when all is going well with your business, your bank account and your family, there is happiness. But what happens when something unwanted happens
When something entirely out of your control happens to disturb your happiness and harmony
Every person in the world, regardless of their power and position, will experience periods during which circumstances arise that are out of their control and not to their liking. It may be the discovery that you have a fatal disease; it may be the illness or death of a near and dear one; it may be a porce or the discovery that a spouse is cheating on you. For people addicted to success in life, it may simply be a failure at something: a bad business decision, your company being acquired and the resultant loss of your job, losing a political election, someone else getting the promotion that you wanted, or your child running away from home or rebelling and rejecting all the values that you hold dear. Regardless of how much wealth, prestige and power you may have, such unwanted events and failures generally create great misery.
Next comes the question: how to deal with these periods of unhappiness, which spoil an otherwise ideal life
Such periods are bound to come in even the most charmed life. Do you behave in a balanced and equanimous manner or do you react with aversion towards the misery that you are experiencing
Do you crave for the return of your happiness
Moreover, when you becomes addicted to happiness and to everything always going the way you want, the misery when things do not go your way becomes even greater. In fact, it becomes unbearable. It often makes us resort to alcohol to cope with these situations of disappointment and depression, and to take sleeping pills in order to obtain the rest we need to keep going. All the while we tell the outside world and ourselves that we are sublimely happy because of our wealth, power and position.
I come from a business family and was an entrepreneur and businessman from a very early age. I built sugar mills, weaving mills and blanket factories and established import-export firms with offices all over the world. In the process, I made a lot of money. However, I also vividly remember how I reacted to events in my business and my personal life during those years. Every night, if I had failed to be successful in a business transaction during the day, I would lie awake for hours and try to figure out what had gone wrong and what I should do the next time. Even if I had accomplished a great success that day I would lie awake and relish my accomplishment. While I experienced success, this was neither happiness nor peace of mind. I found that peace was very closely related to happiness and I frequently had neither, regardless of my money and status as a leader in the community.
I remember a favourite poem of mine related to this subject.
It is easy e…
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