person should strive for to achieve happiness. I drew up a list of a
few essentials which I put forward for the readers' appraisal.
1. First and foremost is GOOD HEALTH. If you do not enjoy good health
you can never be happy. Any ailment, however trivial, will deduct from
your happiness.
2. Second, A HEALTHY BANK BALANCE. It need not run into crores but
should be enough to provide for creature comforts and something to
spare for recreation, like eating out, going to the pictures,
travelling or going on holidays on the hills or by the sea. Shortage
of money can be only demoralizing. Living on credit or borrowing is
demeaning and lowers one in one's own eyes.
3. Third, A HOME OF YOUR OWN. Rented premises can never give you the
snug feeling of a nest which is yours for keeps that a home provides:
if it has a garden space, all the better. Plant your own trees and
flowers, see them grow and blossom, cultivate a sense of kinship with
them.
4. Fourth, AN UNDERSTANDING COMPANION, be it your spouse or a friend.
If there are too many misunderstandings, they will rob you of your
peace of mind. It is better to be divorced than to bicker all the
time.
5. Fifth, LACK OF ENVY towards those who have done better than you in
life; risen higher, made more money, or earned more fame. Envy can be
very corroding; avoid comparing yourself with others.
6. Sixth, DO NOT ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE to descend on you for gup-shup. By
the time you get rid of them, you will feel exhausted and poisoned by
their gossip-mongering.
7. Seventh, CULTIVATE SOME HOBBIES which can bring you a sense of
fulfilment, such as gardening, reading, writing, painting, playing or
listening to music. Going to clubs or parties to get free drinks or to
meet celebrities is criminal waste of time.
8. Eighth, every morning and evening, devote 15 minutes to
INTROSPECTION. In the morning, 10 minutes should be spent on stilling
the mind and then five in listing things you have to do that day. In
the evening, five minutes to still the mind again, and ten to go over
what you had undertaken to do.
RICHNESS is not Earning More, Spending More Or Saving More, but ...
"RICHNESS IS WHEN YOU NEED NO MORE"
