Philosophers across the world have argued since ages that the concept of happiness can be defined or analysed simply in terms of ‘individual contentment’ or by being satisfied with one’s life. So in simple words, one can say that in order to be happy, one needs to be content. But is it really possible in today’s time and age? Because, in the present world, one would hardly find a man who is not discontented. There may be many causes of his discontentment, of which one of the major causes is his monetary difficulties. Besides financial, the problems may relate to personal, social, economic, political, moral, etc. As a result of all this, man is weighed down with despair, indifference, tension, animosity, even fury and mental agony and cannot exercise his discrimination in order to find means of improving the conditions and loses the ability to act. Thus, his plans and acts go wrong and give rise to quarrels and fights. Such a person has a typical habit to build castles in the air while he is as poor as poor can be. People like him totally fail to understand that it is only by dint of hard work that a man can make both ends meet, and only a man of right understanding can work on the right lines. Otherwise, it is a blunder to let your reason be clouded by passion and thus lose your own happiness. Hence, we should remember that just as food sustains the body so does the mind find sustenance in happiness. So, the saying goes: there is no food as good as happiness. And, to be happy, you have to be content. Contentment is as good a means of happiness as wealth is considered to be. Is it proper, therefore, to lose the wealth of contentment in order to secure another kind of wealth? The right course of conduct is that man should be calm in the present crisis and at the same time, find a systematic method of mending or ending it. Considering the present to be the consequence of our own actions, we should thus be careful about the future. We must remember that this world of ours is subject to change and every human being reaps as he sows. Hence man should play his part at the present time as a mentor and do good deeds so that he does not have to face any undesirable situations later on.
The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal & the UK. He can be contacted at nikunjji@gmail.com / www.brahmakumaris.com
