Madhavipriyadas Swami leads mango distribution for the poor and needy

In many countries modern life has improved people's standard of living, but people nevertheless seem generally not happier with their lives. In fact, one of the greatest paradoxes of modern society is that while comforts have increased, calmness has decreased. Technology has connected the world but, in many cases, disconnected the individual from his own inner self. The race to achieve more has quietly become a race without a finishing line. In such a situation, happiness cannot be found by running faster but by pausing more often.

There is no doubt in it that every human being has the right to live and, therefore, the right to find the wherewithal to feed, to clothe and to house himself as well as his dependents. Besides these three, one has to fulfil some other needs as well, the aim being to avoid pain and to have a reasonably comfortable life. Civilisation has advanced precisely to make such basic security possible for a larger number of people, and this achievement should certainly be valued. But the trouble starts when one adopts that economic philosophy which states that multiplication and fulfilment of wants leads to higher standard of living and to greater happiness, and one then sets to accumulate whatever and as much as one can by fair as well as foul means. When this pursuit of comfort turns into the endless pursuit of possession, the line between need and greed begins to blur. Perhaps, therefore, World Happiness Day should remind us not merely to ask how much we have, but how well we live; not how much we consume, but how much we value; and not how successful we appear, but how peaceful we feel within.