Difference Between Anand and Happiness

Difference Between Anand and Happiness

We purchase a new watch, a new dress - we get promoted - our spouse tells us they love you - our children express love for you - is this happinness ? We get a new car, or go out with friends, or listen to music, or watch a movie, or go on a date, or get married, or become a father, or fall in love… is this happiness? We go on a hike, we go to a mall, we achieve the numero uno position; our nation achieves success in something, our community excels or is known for something – is this happiness?

This - and any number of such experiences  are not ANAND ... they are not true happiness. Examine them a little closely, minutely - and see they bear the seeds of future  stress; they are born out of negative attributes. A promotion gives you a sense of achievement - what you call happiness is really ego fulfillment; pride; achievement. These are not necessarily negative - pride can also be Rajasik, or a controlled positive sentiment; but pride is not being happy... it fuels further desires, as you begin to see the next step on the corporate ladder

A CLOSER EXAMINATION

A new watch of dress gives you a sense of ego-massage  at your now-better looks; it assuages insecurity / or it assuages pride, ego, moh, lobh, ahankar - either way, this is not happiness; as once the dress becomes old, once the new range of watches comes in - you want more. A visit to the mall  gives pleasure, entertainment – which is  not happiness. Getting married, becoming a father – this is a combination of pleasure, pride {yes, it is}, achievement, satisfaction, fulfillment, desire, love – and none of this qualifies for happiness; not even love – not when it is material in nature.

Expression of love by a spouse, children, family is not happiness; it gives a feeling of being wanted; lessens fear; builds a support base; assuages ego; fuels me-mera-mine; possessiveness... none of these attributes is happiness... the presence of a child, while close to the feeling of genuine happiness, is still not pure, as it can contain the elements of pride. Relief, security, love etc. Each provides a reason – and the status of happiness cannot depend on a material external stimulus; take away the stimulus, or dilute it in any form – and the feeling fades. Thus, it cannot be happiness either.

MATERIAL ASPECTS

These, and many other such stimuli, wants, desires, actions, achievements are dependent on aspects like Pride, Ego, Conditional Love, Achievement, Security, Relief, Material Satisfaction, Thirst, Desire etc. All of these are negative, or have negative implications in some circumstances  or they are dependent on some conditions being met. How can something so pure as being happy be a function of dependent stimuli or impure stimuli?  Your love for your family, spouse, child, for example – is it free from the condition of  being loved back by them? Will your love remain the exact same regardless if they treat you well, or ill-treat you? Will you feel the exact same in your heart regardless  if they hate you, or use you, or take you for granted, or ignore you?

WHAT THEN?

If the answer  to any of the above questions in the example is no, then it is a dependent stimulus of material happiness , conditional to something else being present -  and is thus not fully pure, and cannot be happiness.  If you are dependent on the ebb and flow of life for your happiness, you are living as per others, so how can that be pure Anand? Happiness – Anand : is one of the purest feelings; and purity is pristine, unchanging; it is a state of being, a presence, a situation-permanent. It is free from dependencies; and does not change. Anand is a state of presence that is felt independently of the ebb and flow of material life in any form. Anand is a situation  that is permanent, pure – and true purity is not a dependency; not of material things at any rate.

                                         

Anand is not something that can be defined in material  terms; materiality changes from moment to moment. It is pristine, tranquil, calm and controlled – a calming, soothing and mesmerizing feeling of purity, of a strange stillness, and  complete control. It is  not a dependency of any other feeling that has its origins in material life. It is not a factor of anything; Anand cannot be a dependency. Anand is free from the vicissitudes of Pride, Ego, Achievement, Success etc; Anand is a situation all by itself, free from all factors, and free from all influences. Understanding this means understanding life…