Happiness: Its other side

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Swami Tejomayananda [1]

Once, my guru, Swami Chinmayananda, was having his baggage checked by a customs officer in the US. On finding nothing objectionable, the man waved him away with the words, “Have a nice day.” Swamiji promptly asked, “How?” The man was speechless; this shows that we do not know how to have a nice day, yet we keep saying it every day to everyone. “Wish you all success,” we say. But how?

Real happiness, success and prosperity come to those who deserve it. A politician who lost an election was asked the reason for his failure. He replied that he was a victim. A victim of what? Of correct vote-counting! He had no chance to manipulate. When we achieve prosperity or reach high positions by such deplorable methods, we do not appreciate its significance. Mahatma Gandhi was not voted Father of the Nation; he earned it because he deserved it.
Gandhi deserved it because he served one and all. Therefore, the saying goes: serve and deserve.
These days, people desire greatness without effort. A student once asked his master about the duties of a disciple. The teacher told the disciple, he would have to serve the master, clean the ashram, wash the clothes, cook the food, etc. When he heard this, the student said, “I think I will become a master!” People want to be leaders without being followers; they want to be rich and prosperous without hard work.
Real success or happiness can only come through service. We have strange ideas about service. An occasional act of service is taken for service itself. So we give charity once a month. But these are “acts” of service and do not make us a man of service. Service is not in any particular action; it is an attitude that pervades our entire life.
We want to be happy and wish happiness for others, yet there is much sorrow in the world.
Sadhu Vaswani, when asked how to be happy said, “If you are seeking happiness, then make others happy.”
Unfortunately, when we think of happiness or success, we think more of ourselves than of others. We just do not understand that if we make others happy, then we ourselves will be happy too. The scriptures state that when a person sees oneness with another, then there is spontaneous love, and when there is love, there is service — service of the type in which there is no demand for any recognition or appreciation. Even if you ask that person to stop doing it, he cannot. And such a person alone deserves great things in life. May we all attain this real prosperity, real success and real happiness, in which lies the welfare of all beings.

Swami Tejomayananda, head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, is an orator, poet, singer, composer and storyteller.