In Pursuit of Happiness

Just some random thoughts. A long series of thought, i am writing the first part and if people like it will add more. Please note that the writing is just based on viewing history with modern viewpoint and is not intended to hurt any sentiments. If you are too sensitive, please do not read the post.


Human life has been in pursuit of happiness ever since human life evolved on this earth. Everyone is working hard to be happy. So I thought that there should be atleast one person,
living or dead whom everyone can claim to be happy. So i looked at the life history of famous successful people and yet found that their lives were not happy in all aspects. One striking example is Robin Williams. He made everyone laugh, won awards, made good money yet his personal life was a struggle.
Searching on, i thought God must be happy, after all God has all the power in the world. However, how can God be happy with billions of people round the world ringing bells (literally)
for help at every second!! How can anyone be happy in that situation.


So God's consort, the next best than God, should be happy. After all wife of God must be the happiest person. She can get whatever she wants from the God himself. So i looked at the biography of God's consort.


Sita - Wife of Rama.
A princess from a very rich kingdom with many maids to help her out.Got married to the most sought bachelor, the one that
broke the dhanush (bow) of Lord Shiva. Never had she experienced any pain in her life. She was beautiful, intelligent and very skilled.


However, soon after marriage, her husband tells her,
"Sita, We need to get tents. we will have to go camping"
Sita was expecting to go to switzerland, but camping? Oh that sounds unique, why not.
Sita says, "When are we going?"
Ram, "Today"
Sita, "It will be difficult to plan out and prepare the chef, get all the materials, prepare the maids etc. They have to get permissions from their family".
Ram,"No, sita, its just you and me. We are going to go without any help, we will eat what we get off the trees and cook whatever we can. We will dress in Sanyasi clothes. We will live brahmachari during the trip".
Sita gets nervous, just after the wedding, her husband is asking to be brahmachari, go in forest with no help and to dress as sanyasi. What will i do with all the designer sarees and dresses that I bought. faintingsmiley She then thinks at least she is going with her hubby.hugsmiley Might be for a few days. Maybe it will give them
time to understand one another.
Sita in a lower voice, "So how many days we are planning to camp?"
Ram, "14 years"
Sita, "14 years!!!!"
She thinks, did i leave my palace for this? I have not stayed out for 14 days, leave alone 14 years. If my dad comes to know about it, he will immediately take me away and file for a divorce. What will my friends think? They will be
laughing at me.laugh1smiley Not sure why he wants us to go for 14 years for camping. Going for 2-3 days itself is boring, 14 years camping? I have to cook, wear only sanyasi sari and live in a tent?:drowning


Eventually, she comes to term with it and thinks at least she will be spending time with her hubby all alone. No MIL, no ILS etc.


Just as they are about to leave for camping, she realizes that her BIL is also coming with them. Only BIL, no cosis. OMG!!
now not only i have to cook for hubby and me, i have to cook for the BIL as well and the cosis is going to stay in palace with all the royal treatment.


On top of it, during the camping, she gets abducted and finally rescued and comes home. One day at home, she finds she is pregnant and wants to inform her husband,
Ram 'Sita, I have some news for you"
Sita, "Ram, I also have some news for you"
Ram,"Ok you say it"
Sita, "No you say it since you said first"
Ram, "Ok, prepare for camping"
Sita, "But we just did it for 14 years. Now again?"
Ram, "Yeah again. But this time it will be just you"
Sita, "Why?'
Ram, "Last time it was my duty as a son. This time it is a duty as a king. You have to go camping"
Poor sita doesn't disclose that she is expecting and has to leave for camping alone and raise her two kids.
How many of us would like to swap the life that she lead? thinkingsmiley

to be continued.....

 

Yeah HR. A lot of learning we get from our epic stories. We cry for little things and when we look at the life of others, we feel how lucky we are. Reminds me of the great song,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hlHCMy-So

 

Rukhmani: Consort of Krishna

Rukhmani, a beautiful princess was in love with Krishna, but couldn't marry him due to political rivalry between her family and Krishna. She wrote a love letter to Krishna. Krishna liked the letter and kidnapped her and got married to her.

Eons latter, even today, the consort of Krishna is said to be Radha, whom Krishna never married. The existence of Radha herself has been controversial with no mention in most of the epics. There are claims that she was from barsana but her life after the Raas-Lila incident is not known.

I always wonder how would Rukhmani be feeling? :spin

So happiness is not guaranteed even for wives of the Lord.

Maybe Lord's parents must be happy. After all their son is the God himself. Maybe that is why people name their kids after God - ShivaRamaKrishna, Padmavati, Lakshmi, etc. Lets view life stories of parents of God.

Dashrath - Kausalya - Rama's parents
Even with 3 wives, King Dashrath was childless. After blessings from a sage, finally he is blessed with 4 sons. Soon after the birth, the kids were sent to aashram for studies. After they were back, they got married and after marriage, due to circumstances, Rama had to be sent to sanyas for 14 years!!!. So the parents had to leave without their dear son for years and finally King Dashrath died with no Rama near him.

Devaki -Vasudeva - Krishna's birth parents
Had to see killings of 8 infants and when their son was born, had to be transported to Nand's house. Both parents had to spend life in jail while their son grew up. Didn't get an opportunity to express their parental love for their son. Jashoda, Krishna's foster mother got all the credit of upbringing Krishna.

Nanda-Jashoda - Krishna's foster parents
Got an opportunity to raise Krishna and witness his magic. But once, Krishna got older and left Nandgaon, he never returned. Nanda and Jashoda spent rest of their lives in memories of Krishna.

So it was difficult for parents of God. lets look at their brothers.

Lakhsmana - Rama's brother
Soon after marriage had to leave his wife and accompany his brother to forest for 14 years!! Must be thinking, i just bought tickets for Switzerland and booked an expensive resort. :bonkFaced a lot of adversities in life. Urmila must be thinking, how lucky Sita is. She is taking her husband with her. Why can't i also go and have to stay over here with 3 MILs and serve them. :bang why does my DH have to volunteer to go to the forest after all Bharat and Satrughna didn't volunteer.

Bharata - Rama's brother
Managed all the activities/responsibilities of a King but was never called a king. May be L.K. Advani can express the feeling of Bharata. Being a deputy PM, managing all the decisions yet never being able to be the PM. :hide: - Have the chair but can't sit on it.

So if family members of the God had to face hardships, what claims do we have to happiness?

This leads to the question what is happiness? Is it money, fame, power? That is all what we work for and yearn for. But is it true happiness?

to be continued....

 

Neetu you are right in your assessment. This thought about happiness has always been intriguing to me. Life has become so fast for everyone and everyone these days are so busy. Even for inviting to a pooja, one has to give evites a month or two in advance as people are busy. So then the thought came why are people busy? Everyone wants to complete something or the other to be happy. While happiness is an illusion and a moving target.