Happiness: A Vedantic view

The word Vedanta means the “end of the Vedas”. In the literal sense this denotes the final knowledge or the ultimate Vidya. The Vedas are our oldest scriptural texts that have been claimed as the most ancient of the books of knowledge. These are compiled into four volumes, each having two parts. The first part of each Veda deals with the mundane subjects of means and ends or worldly gains. The second part, called Upanishads, are directed towards spiritual knowledge and address the serious seeker who is looking for self-knowledge that leads to realisation of the ultimate reality and thus leaves nothing to be desired or achieved. It is the knowledge that helps in acquiring self-actualisation. The basic purpose of Vedanta or the Upanishads is to help man search for the eternal that is the source of truth and joy. Happiness, thus, is the product of realisation of truth. Happiness, according to the Vedantic view, does not lie outside a person but is within that person. It is the very nature of man. But it is ignorance of that essentially happy nature which is the cause of all dissatisfaction and unease. The Vedanta thus helps a man lift that veil of ignorance and reveals the source of all happiness to him. Happiness is essentially embedded in human nature and is the vedantic goal of life. Vedanta shows how happiness lies within and the study of Vedanta is a journey towards reaching a deep understanding of one’s own true nature. It teaches how without going anywhere or seeking anything from the outside one can attain total fulfillment. Vedanta gives the knowledge of Brahman or the ultimate reality. The very name Brahman suggests that the questing spirit in man is due to the activity of God and the aspiration to realise God is in fact derived from God. The knowledge of self is what leads to the knowledge of God and this knowledge is the road to the eternal happiness or bliss. These are times when happiness is being sold as a commodity and people are actually paying a price to buy happiness, which is but a mythical concept. Real happiness cannot be found externally, it has to be realised within. The mystic Indian poet saint Kabir Das has explained this very appropriately in his famous couplet which can be paraphrased in one sentence as follows — Just as the fragrance of a flower lies within so also is the essence of human happiness inside the man, yet he acts like the musk deer searching for the musk in the grass where the aroma from the musk within it has spread. This ignorance is the root cause of the futile search for happiness outside. Happiness cannot be found. It has to be realised. It is a state of mind. The Vedantic view tries to emphasise this approach to happiness by suggesting that linking happiness to external objects would always be a failed exercise. This truth can also be understood by the simple marginal utility theory of economics. The wisdom of Vedanta lies in this eternal truth that linking happiness to outside is a prescription for unhappiness. Indian civilisation and culture has survived the ravages of time because it is based on the solid foundation of the wisdom stored in the Vedanta. The search for happiness outside is trishna or intense craving for something. It will never lead to contentment. Real happiness can only come from within.