Karma Sutra: The pursuit of happiness

The race to win the game comes at a price. It costs us our relationships, our health and our life itself.

The trick to ‘happiness’ lies in striking a balance between ‘grandeur’ and ‘simplicity’. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

The material world is an enchanting place. It invites us to devour all that it has to offer — the gold and the glitter, the glitz and the glamour, the power and the pleasure. And we proceed on our life’s journey to capture all the jazz of this material world. The objective behind the pursuit of these is happiness.

However, this pursuit of happiness via ‘the material’ is frowned upon by spiritual snobs. But there is nothing wrong with it; it is one of the objectives of life. What gives it a negative connotation is when it’s done solely for the purpose of projection. When we do so we become a part of a race. Each contestant trying to outdo the other. We become victims of the game of samsara (the world). The game of samsara is based on comparative degrees, which changes constantly. To keep pace with its ever changing standard is exhausting.

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The race to win the game comes at a price. It costs us our relationships, our health and our life itself. And before we know it, we have reached the finishing line, not of the race but of life itself. It’s no secret that we are immortal creatures and in the evening of our life, we realise that we probably lived for the sake of the world. We were so caught up in chasing the grand things of life for the sake of the world that we missed out on the finer ones.

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The trick to ‘happiness’ lies in striking a balance between ‘grandeur’ and ‘simplicity’. The simple joys of life are just as precious as the rarest of the gems. The golden sunshine on a winter afternoon, the glittering dew drops on a tender leaf, the soft pitter-patter of the raindrops, the whish-whoosh of the ‘sea waves’, the waxing and waning of the moon…

When this is balanced with the company of loved one(s) (family), occupied with doing what one is good at (vocation), with a roof over one’s head (a home) and enough food in the pantry to feed a chance guest — all is well with the world.

To build your grandeur on these simple joys is what ‘happiness’ is all about. It’s a personal pursuit, what has the world got to do with it?!

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