Success.. a Puzzle!

By Shruti ⋅ January 13, 2012 ⋅

What is success? We often feel that once we reach material success or a particular position in life which we coveted after, our life will be at bliss, we will be happy and joyous. Very often this isn’t the case.

We see a lot of people who are very prosperous in their business/work field, yet they are unsatisfied, unhappy. This leads to one of the main questions of life; if reaching a particular position in life was success and happiness then why is it that we are not happy?

The answer to which is, sharing is happiness. If we share our wealth, our talent, our happiness with others, our joy multiplies manifold. One difficulty seen in this path is that often it takes a lot of time for men to recognize his true happiness. When is he unhappy, he often thinks that if he gains more power he might be happy. So, the quest for happiness might take a wrong turn.

To avoid this, we must consciously decide and think for ourselves, whatever we do, its end result must lead us to the right path, the true happiness in us.

As Swami Tejomayananda, Head of Chinmaya Mission often says, “when we reach the top of the ladder, it is then that we realize it’s the wrong ladder, as we have not got what we wanted”. Another point to dwell upon is that material goals do not give us long lasting happiness or satisfaction. Thus, we must aim for the infinite, our goal should be to reach that Self.

When we are stuck at some point in our life, unable to decide what is right or wrong, we must listen to our conscious; another difficulty which comes our way is what is right and wrong. A way to solve this problem is- we must be content with its outcome even in the long run. If a person feels that murdering someone is right, then is must be right provided he is ready to face the consequences and continues to take the same stand even 5 years down the line. The keyword is “Constant”. I believe that our conscience is value laden, its value based.