Why we engage in fruitive works to get happiness?

Happiness, we see, is what everyone is seeking for, but the majority seek it in things which are evanescent, and which are not real. No happiness was ever found in the senses. There never was a person who found happiness in the senses, or in enjoyments of the senses. Instead, these activities only aggravate the misery.” As a result, practically everyone in this world is unhappy. Some suffer from the miseries of their own body and mind; others are tormented by their family members and relatives; some suffer from scarcity of wealth and the paucity of the necessities of life. Materially minded people know they are unhappy, but they think that others ahead of them must be happy, and so they continue running in the direction of material growth. This blind pursuit has been going on for many lifetimes and yet there is no sight of happiness. Now, if people could realize that nobody has ever achieved happiness by engaging in fruitive works, they would then understand that the direction in which they are running is futile, and they would think of doing a U-turn toward spiritual life.

Why we want to be Happy? Is it not happiness that all sentient beings desire in life?

Happiness= 20% Pleasure (Kama) + 35% Engagement (Artha) + 45% Meaning (Dharma)

Meaning component is more important in happiness. You are more happy if you do meaningful work in life.

You are more happy if you do meaningful work in life.. Various experiments show that the meaning of happiness is not fixed; instead, it systematically shifts over the course of one’s lifetime. Whereas younger people are more likely to associate happiness with excitement, as they get older, they become more likely to associate happiness with peacefulness. This change appears to be driven by a redirection of attention from the future to the present as people age. moral philosophy holds that we should aim at greater happiness for a greater number. Yet two theories about how we assess how happy we are imply that there is not much value in happiness and that happiness cannot de raised lastingly. These two theories are: (1) ‘Set-point’ theory, which holds that we are mentally programmed for a certain degree of happiness, and (2) ‘Comparison’ theory holding that happiness results from a rational mental calculus involving comparison with standard of the good life. Seligman’s theoretical model of happiness (PERMA) helps us understand these elements and what we can do to maximize each element to reach a life full of happiness. 

The four permissible goals in Hinduism are kama, artha, dharma and moksha, with each goal being more important than those before it. It is commonly observed that most people in a society are working towards the two objectives namely artha (earning wealth) and kama (pursuit of desires). However, the artha and kama are considered as short-term objectives whereas, the other two objectives namely dharma and moksha are long-term objectives. It encompasses the human desires for passion and emotion. Dharma (righteousness, moral values), Artha (prosperity, economic values), and Moksha (liberation, spiritual values).

What is the one thing that all sentient beings desire? Is it not happiness? In the final analysis, are not all our desires just various forms of our one fundamental desire to be happy? Is not our fundamental desire for happiness the essence of every form of desire that we may ever have?

We realize that our past might seem rosier than it actually was. If you had maintained a journal for some length of time, you know that the past wasn’t any more hunky-dory than is the present. We remember the past as having been more pleasant for two main reasons. First, we tend to cope better with the big negative events than we expect to; so the impact of a romantic breakup or of the failure to get a dream job seldom lingers as long as we think it will. Second, we tend to give the negative events from our past a positive spin over time; thus, in due course, stories that make our life more colorful, rather than ones that cast a dark shadow on it. It is precisely because past negative events become more positive in our memory that women agree to go through a second childbirth. 

That said, it does appear that most of us were happier as kids than we are as adults.

The fact that we were happier as kids than we are as adults raises an important question: what did we know as kids that we forget as adults? Or, more to the point: what do we know now, but did not as kids, that is hurting our happiness?

Prof (Dr.) Kanayalal Raina is an internationally known writer, educator and consultant/ trainer, advocates spiritual teaching besides providing management consultancy services. His strategic plans are being used for obtaining funding to run various programs conducted by NFP nonprofit and business organizations.

He strengthens NFP and business organizations through education, empowerment of leadership and mentoring, personal growth and strategic counselling. Areas of expertise are Govt. funding and preparation of Business Plans, Strategic Plans, Marketing plans, Sales and Pricing Plans, Balanced Scorecard, and Business Performance Analysis Management.