There were a wide range of cartoons during my childhood, basically in three categories; the ’classics’, the ‘comics’ and the fictional ‘superheroes’ and I never guessed why all those classics such as ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘The Glass Mountain’ and many more, would begin with ‘Once upon a time’ and end with ‘and they lived happily ever after’. Later, when I turned 60, I realised that there cannot be a real-time story where the protagonist can remain happy ever after — that’s the reason the ‘classic’ stories were called ‘fairy’ tales. These, according to me, was necessary for a child to nurture their creativity and pursue their dreams. The fairytale transports the child to an imaginary world where ‘Prince Charming’ comes along, then vanquishes all adversaries and rides away with his Lady Love to his kingdom to live happily ever after. But as we grow old, we realise that such happy endings never happen, and that it was only a ‘fairytale’. That’s the reason the story begins non-committally with the clause ‘once upon a time’ — without a date or era.
Whenever I feel that I am not happy, I take stock of my contribution to achieve such expected happiness and it turns out that there was a lacuna. In my profession, I feel that it is not an option to stride towards excellence, but it's a compulsion to be prepared for the ultimate, every day. I stare at ‘defeat’ all the time, however best I prepare for a case. I still experience high anxiety on the day of arguments, despite which I gear up my armour to the best of my ability. The fear recedes only after the court hearing session, and on completion, it gives me satisfaction that I did a fair job, but that’s only a temporary happiness.
Temporary happiness is a state of mind when you are in the company of people you like or love, when you dine or travel to the places you want, and when you achieve minor victories. But after growing old, I realised the value of solitude, where it is possible to be happy by adopting the company of books, when content with basic food supplanting exotic cuisines and the most important of all — the unblemished consciousness without making opinions of anyone or to be judgemental. During solitude, the memories are addictive, hence I realised that the memories are also like ‘fairytales’ which have to be only preserved in cupboards and not for review on a day-to-day basis to reminisce the past happiness, for they too happened ‘once upon a time’. I found that another most important factor that could forfeit my happiness is the measurement of material wealth in comparison with others, fortunately I never had such thoughts. I also felt that whatever I earn annually and the wealth that I have secured until now is more than sufficient for my well-being. I have regulated my daily routine from 4 am to 9 pm over the last two decades, and even though I dwell in my professional quest for almost three-quarters of the time I am awake, I do not get weary and I concur with the great Chinese philosopher Confucius, “Choose the job you love and you have to never work a day in your life.”
I then realised that my livelihood and continuing happiness depends on my health, hence I began to follow a strict regime of exercise which I revived recently. I found that to continue being happy, exercise, a vegetarian diet, minimum sleep of five hours and eliminating all negativity by introspection, keeping away from the company of those who solicit such impure thoughts, are imperative. Philosophy has attracted me since the past decade, not in adversity but in success. So, I started to record quotes of great philosophers whenever I come across them and when I recapitulate them periodically, I have a huge gush of energy and motivation in between my professional duties. The profound thoughts and observations of reality of the great philosophers rejuvenate my confidence so that I can continue to be happy by dwelling in reality and not by dreaming.
My best decision two years ago was that I have ensured that I am happy at least for a day during the week — with my blogs. My endeavour is to make the readers indulge in reading for at least ten minutes, which could inspire them to think about their own experiences and realise that their lives are also worth journaling. It makes me happy when my readers respond the next day and encourage me to continue writing, which nurtures and directly contributes to my healthy state of mind. When the week starts, then it is again the regime to continue my endeavour in my profession and to take decisions for the happiness of my clients.
Truth is bitter and it is stranger than fiction because it is beyond one’s imagination. In 1897, Mark Twain included an adage comparing truth and fiction in his book “Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World” stating that “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because ‘fiction’ is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t”. What Twain meant was that a fictional story can be imagined by the writer, but when it comes to the experience of ‘truth’, even a litterateur or wordsmith cannot forge anything that comes close to the ‘truth’.
The Mahabharata, originally named as Jaya, is stated to be, "yadi haasti tada anyatra yanney haasti na tat kkachit” in Sanskrit, which means that “everything related to the four Purusharthas of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, that is found in the epic can also be found elsewhere; but what is not here (in the Mahabharata) cannot be found anywhere else”; which means it has the completeness. The epic defines variance and flavour of all characters and ingredients of storytelling that was narrated by the great Vyasa in the itihas (history as it was) that cannot be found anywhere ever. What is available and embedded within the epic Mahabharata is true to the core of what happens in life when the harmony with the universe is broken, hence it is no fairytale. The epic narration is about ambition, power, insults, greed, prejudice, bloodshed, revenge, and ultimately none of the characters lived happily ever after. The revered were killed by their own protege, the brothers were killed by their cousins for kingdom, the wicked were killed by the wise. These incidents happen even today among our own. Yuddishtara, the wisest one and the protagonist of the epic, realised the result of his actions, and renounced his kingdom, setting off on a journey of no return followed by his four brothers and Draupadi. The final chapter of the Mahabharata is ‘Mahaprasthanika Parva’, meaning the Great Journey, that guides humanity to the path of salvation.
Identifying the wisest among men is a tricky affair, we often fail in this endeavour. Yuddishtara sought advice from the wise such as the Vidhura, Bhishma and many great sages, including the ‘Maha Muni Narada’. The sons of Pandu followed the path shown by the wisest among wisest ‘Krishna’ and never left the path of righteousness. On the other hand, the Kaurava King Dhuryodana resorted to hate speeches of Karna, Shakuni and Dushasana which only incited him to reach the peak of his sense of jealousy and ultimately to damnation. Even these happen today among us. Hence, I also realised that apart from reading the writings of the great philosophers and leaders of humanity, the company of learned friends and advice from pious Gurus are necessary in life to correct my ways when in confusion.
Until now, there is no proof that anyone lived happily ever after, hence I pursue it on a day-to-day basis accepting all disappointments as a result of my own earlier actions. Whatever my actions performed today will result in the future as I deserved. Having experienced happiness, adversity and disappointments, I now realise that they were all due to my past actions, and despite pursuing a dreamy future, I have achieved only some and failed miserably in many. I recently realised that I ignored ‘selfless’ service, the most important activity that can assure my ‘happy’ life left in balance. Hence, I concluded that to live ‘happily ever after’ the only possible formula is to include ‘selfless service’ at least for a day of the week to start with in my regime.
We all experience happiness but rarely can anyone experience happiness ‘ever after’, for we are engaged in confronting the battles of the mind and finding solutions relentlessly every day to be happy ‘day after day’, but there’s no guarantee to live so ‘ever after’. Only when the curtains draw down, can it be confirmed whether the departed lived a honest and ethical life and was useful to the society, and his soul shall live happily thereafter in the celestial bliss.