Dalai Lama says happiness is the prime goal of life

When I saw a journalist friend's Facebook post recently, I started thinking. His wife had written in the post something like this: 'A nice family photo, because we often don't spend time together and on a wedding occasion we are so happy today as never before. Bengali marriages are like this, they make you very happy.” Friend is a journalist, so obviously he would not be able to give enough time to his family. Such is the life of most of the journalists. They attend hundreds of happy and sad events as a part of their professional life; must be traveling to far away places in the country and abroad, but mostly they travel alone, not with their family. Many of the journalists can not afford to go on family vacations, because time and money both are in short supply. Journalism is a profession which requires army-like dedication with hardly any free time. When they manage to go out, still the office phone keeps on ringing for this or that. Their evenings are spent in their office and when they return home late in the night, most of the world is gone into sleep. Such is the routine of a typical journalist.

The line that made me think was that ‘we have never been so happy till today'. It is really worrying that a family waits to attend a wedding in order to be happy. I personally don’t like to attend wedding parties. I am very happy when I am alone. I chose to be happy all the time. It requires no money to be happy, neither does anyone's permission is needed for this. This is just a decision, a choice, that you want to be happy. Those who have decided to be unhappy will remain sad even if you make them live in a 5-star hotel, in a palace or in a luxurious car. There is one country in the world where most of the citizens are happy, that is Bhutan. Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama says that the highest goal of human life is to be happy. Bhikkhu Sanghasena, the founding president of Mahabodhi International Meditation Center, Leh, also preaches to ‘live in the present moment and be happy’.

Recently an old friend of mine visited my place. Our friendship is four decades old, but for the last many years we were unable to meet or talk properly. Often friendships take a backseat after one gets married or starts working somewhere. The family equations do change and people get too busy in their lives. We took photos together before leaving. In the evening I sent a message that said, ``Your happiness is visible, stay blessed.' This I wrote after seeing the smiles in the photos. Quickly I got a reply - 'Do you think I am happy?' This response made me think deeply. Obviously all is not going well in my friend's life. However it was not evident from the facial expression and smile. This is what happens. People keep showing fake smiles. Still, I believe that whatever be the circumstances in life, we always have a choice to be happy.

(Writer is a senior journalist & columnist)