Skip to main content

The Happiest people!

Renowned Buddhist philosopher, author, educationist and my mentor in life, Daisaku Ikeda recently quoted Elizabeth Cady Staton, a pioneer of women's rights in US: "The happiest people I have known have been those who gave themselves no concern about their own souls, but did their uttermost to mitigate the miseries of others".

Ikeda who is fondly called sensei (or teacher by his followers) shared this with people from George Mason University who had come to Japan to confer on him an honorary doctorate, as an expression of his commitment to sharing with the rising generations the ideals of freedom and equality that George Mason propounded.

This lead me to think, why are so many people coming and conferring such awards on sensei (he has more than 250 such doctorates conferred on him including one by Delhi Univ, which was conferred on him in a ceremony where Anil Wilson; who was the Principal of St. Stephen"s Delhi when I was studying there, was presiding)?

In my mind, it is because somewhere they see that Soka-Gakkai's movement of kosen-rufu (or world-peace) is trying to achieve something that human-beings across ages have dreamed of.

The Indian freedom struggle was also one such struggle wherein the genius of our nation emerged. But then where did those lofty ideals that our grandfathers and great grandfathers believe in disappear? My Nanaji used to say that the same people who were willing to lay down their lives for the country under Gandhi, later became corrupt thinking after all those sacrifices we made, what did we get in return?

Today, isn't it this attitude of just thinking about one-self and one's family, which has now sunk deep in our culture, responsible for what we face everyday when we have to deal with corruption, apathy and inefficiency. The same people who once had deep belief in such high nobles, ended up becoming so selfish. Why?

I think it is because they lost sight of this profound insight towards life that sensei is trying to point out here. As long as we stay unconcerned about the miseries of others and only care for ourselves, we will not achieve true happiness. Think about it, the day 9/11 happened, did we feel happy or sad? The day 26/11 happened, no matter how great our life might have been at that time, how did we feel? I could be the richest man in the world (like Bill Gates) and living in the best of conditions. Why does something still stir in my life when I see others suffering?

The sooner we as humans understand this I guess the better. We are born alone. We die alone. But till we are alive, lives of people in our environment affect us and so we need to take responsibility of those lives rather than turn a blind eye! Ms. Staton, your observation is profound indeed! And sensei, as usual, thank you for pointing to me the correct path of life!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Influencers and Investment Advice!

 The latest dream of every lazy man is to become a “Fin-influencer”! Get a large following on You Tube, brag about one’s portfolio returns and then start online tutorials where you give some tips to your followers in the garb of teaching. And of course you charge a fee for educating people! Everything legal and hunky dory! Now I worked as a Product Specialist across big Indian and MNC platforms and it took me 10 years to get to a stage where I could understand investing deeply and give correct advice. I have seen the bull market of 2006-2007. The bear market of 2008, the resurgence in 2009 and then the PIGS crisis in Europe that wiped out equity returns from 2011-2013 before Modi rally came in late 2013 and 2014.  Today’s blog is about one such Influencer who is a BIG name. He recently started his Podcast and using his intelligence and reach - producing world class content. But then he talked about Sovereign Gold Bonds which he said are a good idea since a lot of central banks...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Hindu in 2024 Bharat

 I was born in a Hindu Kayastha family in Rajasthan. But the first thing I learnt was that I had been born in privilege! My houses were huge. The police used to guard them and my father was a powerful influential person. What was he - an IAS officer in the poor state of Rajasthan. As the son of a Collector- I assumed this is how life is meant to be. Later I also learnt that I belonged to a UP Kayastha family. Kayastha - are the sons of Chitragupta in Hinduism. They are the ones who read out your karma when the time of judgement comes.  Hence we were not part of any of the Brahman, Kshatriya, Baniya grouping. We were a small elite group who were accountants of god and our true wealth was our “kalam” or pen! And as the pen grew mightier than the sword, Kayasthas gained tremendous importance in an Independent India. Mostly human gods in Hinduism were Kshatriyas (Rama) or Yadav (Krishna)  or Buddha (Kshatriya). We were worshippers of Shiva/Rama/Krishna. Later, in my 20s I fou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Live true to yourself

How does one live true to oneself?  For years this thought troubled me. While the concept seems very fascinating, what is the true me? A small town boy who went on to study in the huge metropolis of Delhi in an extremely snobbish and elitist liberal arts college? A young man who went on to study in a large public funded university in North East US amidst a WASP majority? And then in his late 20s came back to settle in a numbing cosmo called Mumbai working in the ultra competitive field of Wealth Management?  Add to the complexities here - born as the son of a Collector. Grew up as a privileged kid amidst the 80s and 90s. Saw the height of powers a man can attain as the son of a Chief Secretary. And how all that power vanishes once the post goes away.  Life is never easy for anyone. Growing up is a process of gradual self discovery. But when one is born in a family with extremity of anything - power, money, fame - The way one thinks about life changes. Throw into the cauld...
Post a Comment
Read more