What makes you happy?

Several motivational books scream about the importance of being happy and tell you how to achieve happiness in life. Of course, all that is easier said than done. I always wonder what makes people happy. I know people who would do anything to earn lots of money or become famous or have a high standard of living. I know others whose mission in life is to be good and to help others and that gives them pleasure. They do not want to be in the limelight at all. Many others are interested in arts and music, and dedicate their lives to these pursuits simply because they give them happiness. Since I grew up in an environment that was extremely competitive, I have always had the mentality to do things in order to be recognized by others. Only peer recognition gives me happiness.

Over the last few years my father has been quite instrumental in making me understand how important it is to do things just for your own happiness without regard to anything else. He is an avid reader, writer and quite a poet. One is pleasantly surprised to find out how knowledgeable he is about a wide range of subjects like physics, genetics, philosophy, astronomy, Ayurveda (Indian herbal medicine) and the Sanskrit language. Most of his knowledge has been acquired by thousands of hours of reading and probably from his very early days as a translator (from Sanskrit to Hindi), after the untimely death of my grandfather forced him to do all sorts of odd jobs. I still remember my childhood when he used to read for hours and hours late into the night and whenever else he could steal a few minutes from life that generally revolved around a very demanding job, and a wife and two sons.

While reading has always been a favorite pastime of his, I did not know that he had dreams of writing poetry in Hindi and Sanskrit. A few years ago, I became aware of some of his poetry that was in the form of handwritten manuscripts. To my credit, I encouraged him to get published. I know his personality; he is not the kind who would ask for help from anyone to get something like this accomplished. I encouraged him to learn how to use computers and to use typesetting software to create publishable versions of his creations. To my great surprise, and despite many difficulties associated with old age that usually turn people off from computers and software, he learned it all and has become quite proficient at it.

I know that the Sanskrit language in itself excites him a lot. He derives a lot of happiness from writing poetry and that has made it possible for him to create four masterpieces in the last few years. One of them called Vyavahaarsookti (literal translation instructions to live/behave) is a great compilation of things one should do to live well. Another one called Kaligeeta is a satire. Based on the holy book of Hindus called the Bhagvad Geeta, this compilation talks about politics and politicians of the present day (Kaliyuga) and draws humorous parallels between the teachings of Lord Krishna (Hindu God) and the behavior of politicians.

His latest compilation is what is called a Mahakavya, or epic. He has created an epic about Aniruddha, the grandson of Lord Krishna. The epic consists of well over 1,500 shlokas (verses), written in several meters. This epic has received tremendous praise from eminent Sanskrit scholars. He is currently in the process of obtaining sponsorship to get it published.

Writing all this poetry, typesetting it, getting it reviewed and critiqued, and making the effort to publish it has taken thousands and thousands of hours. For someone who is now 72, it is quite an achievement to do all this after turning 65, by the time most people have already given up such pursuits for several years.
I am very proud of his accomplishments and have seriously started thinking about what it means to be happy. The glow in his eyes and excitement in his voice is unmistakable when he is talking about his creations. I can see how happy he is in doing this. There are very few people who care about the Sanskrit language and probably an equally small or smaller number of people who have heard of Aniruddha but as I said before, my father is not about doing things to appeal to the masses or become famous. He is doing this because this makes him happy. I hope that some day I can feel so good about doing something that I have always wanted to do. I am still trying to find the way to true happiness.