I attended a talk this week held by the Australia India Institute in which Times of India journalist, Joy Purkayastha presented his research on happiness. He described how happiness surveys place Australia in the top 10 and India in the dismal 100’s. It depends which survey and what parameters are used to determine how the rankings are formed. Generally it is considered important, that basic survival factors are fulfilled such as food, shelter, and safety. Australia is uniformly strong in this respect. Other factors such as purpose and meaning, health, social connectivity, freedom of speech, and access to education are also important.

Studies show that beyond a certain level of material prosperity, happiness does not increase by much. In fact if we look at some of the wealthiest people in the world and celebrities with huge financial success, they seem to suffer more from depression and dependencies that the average person. The search for happiness may in fact be leading to melancholy and depression. When you travel the world and see people in poorer countries, it becomes apparent that they actually seem happier. Less possessions, but stronger relationships, deeper connectivity, social cohesiveness appear to be a much greater predictor of happiness.

From a yogic perspective, happiness is just a superficial emotion that is like a ripple in the mind which is more related to situations and external circumstances. On the other hand contentment, peace, love and fulfillment are much deeper and more enduring qualities. Once this stability has been established, the search for happiness in wasteful endeavours drops away automatically. Have a read of this article about dropping the search for happiness.

You may have heard the story of the musk deer? The musk deer emits a musk fragrance from its own body and it runs around the forest looking for the smell. It does not realise that what it is searching for is coming from its own self. In a similar way, human beings keep looking here, there and everywhere for that elusive “high”. The art of living is knowing how to tap into that within, so that happiness then becomes the starting point and not the goal.

In Health and Wellness