What should make us happy....?

A recent whatsapp video brought out a very valid message, which I want to share with you.

"A blind boy sits in a busy road corner with a placard reading, 'I am blind. Please help'. He could collect only a few coins in a day. One day a man walked by and saw the writing on the placard. After throwing some coins in the boy's hat, he changed the wordings in the placard and went away. The boy's hat was filling up fast from then on and the boy was taken by surprise. The very next day the same man happened to walk by the road. The boy could recognize him by his footsteps. He asked the man what he did the previous day, which resulted in him collecting more coins. The man said that he changed the writing in the placard as follows: 'Today is a beautiful day; but I cannot see". This made a whole lot of difference. The boy told the man, that the meaning is the same. Yes,  the earlier message in the placard proclaimed that the boy was blind but the second message conveyed to the passers by that 'they were not blind'.

We do not value a thing, when we have it. We should value even the tiniest blessings in our lives, before it is too late. We should be grateful for whatever (even the negligibly small thing) we have, because many people in the world do not have them. Even when we get up in the morning every day, we should be thankful to God, as millions of people do not get up in the morning (as they die in their sleep). So, the 'normal looking waking up' in the morning itself is a big blessing for that day. Think of the 'corona virus' pandemic and it made all the more better sense. Most of us survived the 'corona virus disease of 2019 (Covid-19), for which we should be eternally thankful to God.

When we have a good leader in our team, generally we do not realize his worth till he is there. When he leaves (and we get a 'no-so-good' boss), we would realize how good he was. 

We tend to always compare ourselves with others and cringe about what they have and that we do not have. They may not have what we have but that does not catch our eyes. We are able to walk, use our hands, use our brain and go along with our daily chores. How many unfortunate people do not have this privilege! God gives us what we absolutely require for our lives. Of course, we have to work towards getting what we need and not simply 'idle and think that God will give everything that we need, on a platter.'

Some people have the habit of fearing anything they come across and that makes them unhappy. Actually, the 'fear of the pandemic' killed many, rather than the disease itself. Face any situation with courage and the 'fear' will be afraid of you.

Man by nature is greedy; A person going in a bi-cycle aspires to get a motorcycle, the person driving a motorcycle is jealous of the man going in a car. A person driving a normal car looks up with awe at a man driving a costly car. And this goes on.... There is nothing wrong in aspiring to get the next 'higher valued product'. We should work for it and get it. If God is willing to give us that boon, we will definitely get it. If for some reason we do not get it, we should not be unhappy. We should be satisfied with what we have and be happy. Nothing should make us unhappy. Happiness is a mindset and it is not due to what we have....., but how well we make use of what we have.

The comfort of 'shade' would be realized only when we experience the 'scorching sun'...


Comments

  1. shreyas22 April 2023 at 23:18

    Some Gnani said "Happiness is the feeling when one's needs and desires are fulfilled" As long as one keep his needs to essentials and desires low the chances of he remaining happy increase

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Theriappan23 April 2023 at 00:06

      Very correct. If he keeps raising the bar (needs and desires), then there can never be happiness

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

மனம் மிக அலை பாயுதே....

மகாபாரதத்தில், கதையை நகர்த்துவதற்கு பெரிதும் உதவிய ஒரு கதாபாத்திரம் ‘திருதராஷ்டிரன்’. மிக முக்கியமான முடிவுகள் அவன் மூலமாகவே எடுக்கப்படுகின்றன; ஏனென்றால் அவன் அஸ்தினாபுரத்து அரசன்.... திருதராஷ்டிரனை, ’நல்லவன்’ என்பதா, இல்லை ‘கெட்டவன்’ என்பதா? முரண்பாடுகளின் மொத்த உருவம் தான் அவன் (He is a bundle of contradictions). நல்ல எண்ணங்கள் அவ்வப்போது வந்து போகும் ஒரு கெட்ட எண்ணம் படைத்தவன். ஒரு பக்கம் அவனது மனசாட்சி போன்று விளங்கும் அவன் சகோதரன் ‘விதுரன்’; மறுபக்கம் தீய எண்ணங்களின் மொத்த உருவமான அவனது மகன் ’துரியோதனன்’. விதுரன் கூறும் அறிவுரைகளை விரும்பிக் கேட்டும், அதன்படி நடக்க முடியாமல், துரியோதனன் மீதுள்ள அதீத பாசத்தினால், கெட்ட செயல்களுக்கு அனுமதி கொடுத்தவன். ஒரு கடிகாரத்தின் ‘ஊசல்’ (pendulum) போன்றவன். ஆனால், எப்போதும், துரியோதனன் பக்கம் மட்டுமே சாய்பவன். அவன் நினைத்திருந்தால், ‘சூதாட்டம்’ நடக்காமல் தடுத்திருக்கலாம். அதன் விளைவாக பாண்டவர்கள் 13 வருடங்கள் ‘வனவாசம்’ சென்றதைத் தவிர்த்திருக்கலாம். பாண்டவர்கள் வனவாசம் முடிந்து திரும்பியவுடன், அவர்களுக்குச் சேர வேண்டிய பங்கினைக் கொடுத்திருந்தால
Read more

Mental Ability..... are we slowly losing....?

These days most of us need a calculator, even to find the answer for 1 + 1. That is a different point altogether! Those days (sigh again...!) we used to do multiplication of big numbers using logarithmic tables (based on the mathematical subject, 'logarithm'). Based on logarithm, a device called 'slide-rule' was used by us in college for assisting us in calculations. That was before the advent of calculators. Now we have in-built calculators in smart phones, our PC / Laptop / Smart watches. In schools those days, the moment we assembled, the first thing we were subjected to was, memorizing the multiplication tables, by repeating them loudly. We used to recite the tables up to 16, by heart (ex: 12 X 16 = 192). But we were nothing compared to the generation earlier to us. My father used to recite multiplication tables using 'fractions' (ex: 1/8 X 1/8 = 1/64). He used to tell the name (in Tamil) for 1/64. I do not remember it now. Abacus (an instrument with
Read more

Is it humanly possible....?

"You should have seen that movie.... If you have not seen, you are missing something in life...." "These are the 10 books one should read in his lifetime...... Haven't you read any of that?" "Have you still not visited Switzerland? What a lovely country! In your lifetime, you have to visit at least once" "There is a restaurant in Hyderabad. You have not heard of it! What a waste... You should taste their 'biriyani'... It is heavenly...." (Since I am in India, I give this example!). "What are you saying? You don't use an iPhone? I mean, how could you live without it...?" All of us must have come across at least one of these dialogues spoken to us, at some point of time or the other. Am I right? There are billions of movies made in all the languages spoken in the world. May be, around 10% of the movies are worth watching. Even that will work out to millions of movies. It is obvious that no one can see all the good movies i
Read more