Wednesday, April 16, 2014

443. Happiness via Righteousness…….

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/happiness-via-righteousness



As a young man approaching middle age, I often ask myself what it is that as a human being I truly seek. Material possession with which I could rediscover comfort appear on the surface to shape up my thoughts and dictate the actions I perform, but diving a little deeper I find that there is a common goal for mankind including me which is to know happiness is always present in me through self-realization.

All along these years I contemplated to gain insight to discover if there are any other modes of notion that may lead more effectively to happiness. The more I explored the different versions, the more I was asking myself, “Could it be that the way I perceive the abundance displayed by the merchants of this earth plane keep me away from obtaining my deepest longing, that is, HAPPINESS?”

I do not agree that the material possessions are in and of themselves bad or evil, for it is only their use that determines their relative worth. Having said that, I have observed a few people worship at the altar of material possessions, to keep themselves happy. My study is that happiness to them is fleeting it is there for a moment when a goal is achieved or some thing they need is obtained and gone shortly thereafter and a new goal is set. It is like a sine wave. Is happiness a sine wave I always wonder? Happiness is never a sine wave in the graph of time, it is a straight line. If I let is as it is, it will remain a straight line all through my life span instead if I try to manipulate it, it becomes a sine-wave. The sine wave represents happiness and suffering.

Bhagwan Buddha found out the reason behind suffering and put it as the second point on the four noble truths. He figured out that desire is the cause of suffering. About 200 years later Chankaya even more clearly figures out that happiness is the natural by-product of Righteous Living. Righteous living is to uphold the integrity, honor and respect of the self. Righteousness does not mean living a religious life style, in fact, a life lived righteously is a life of natural abundance and strength. Righteousness is revealed through my decisions and deeds, not on how others perceive my action, for righteousness is rarely the popular choice nowadays.

We are living in a world where assumption of personal responsibility is at an all time low and where the expectation of being cared for is at an all-time high. May be I cannot gauge if this trend is due to complacency born of the decades of growth and prosperity that we have enjoyed or if it is evidence of a larger phase working out in the evolution of humanity. I do know that the wisest constitution and the most elegantly constructed laws will prove impotent in their ability to secure the happiness of a people whose lives do not square to an underlying pattern of righteousness. This is the greatest challenge before us is that we are unable to inspire righteousness in a world that has grown cynical to the very concept. It is incumbent upon our political class, business class, teaching class, and our parents to better the standard of righteousness once again by leading by example. Lord Krishna says that the qualities of a leader are mimicked by his followers. Though sometimes the action involved in righteous living may be unpopular for a while, so be it. The happiness of generations to follow depend on the basic principle of our righteous living……isn't it????

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