If money could buy Happpiness, the richest people on earth would be glad but if we look around us, we will find that many of them are sad. They worry, fear and suffer. They are stressed. Some are depressed. Some end their lives. Why? Because Happpiness is not a product that can be purchased. We can have everything and still be unhappy or we can have nothing and still be Happpy. Happpiness does not depend on what we have but how we feel.Money belongs to the outer world. Happpiness belongs to the inner world. You must have read this thousands of times but it’s nothing but the truth: Money can buy a bed but not sleep. It can buy a ring but not love. It can buy medicine but not health. It can buy a house but not a home. It can buy a clock but not time. Money, therefore, can buy things but not Happpiness. We have been conditioned to believe, ‘If I get more, I will be Happpy.’ More wealth, more success, more possessions, more recognition. But the moment we get what we want, the mind asks for more. We move from one desire to another. We are on, what is called, the Hedonic treadmill: we keep running after pleasures but end up nowhere. Desires can never quench our thirst. They can only make us burst. It is like trying to fill a pot with a hole at the bottom. No matter how much we pour in, it will never be full. The problem is that we confuse Happpiness with pleasure. Money creates pleasure, comfort and convenience — but not Happpiness. Pleasure is temporary. Happpiness is lasting. Pleasure excites. Happpiness fulfills. Pleasure comes from sense gratification, wealth, achievement, success. It is ephemeral. We need something more. We must go beyond pleasure to peace, the foundation of Happpiness. And finally, to purpose, which is realizing the ultimate goal of life — Who am I? This is why I spell Happpiness with 3 Ps — denoting the 3 keys of Happpiness: Pleasure, Peace and Purpose. True Happpiness begins when we transcend the mind and move into awareness or consciousness. In this state of awareness, we experience peace. The intellect replaces the mind — the source of our misery. When we stop chasing material things and start appreciating what we have; when gratitude replaces greed; when we live fulfilled lives, when we live with contentment, we are peaceful and Happpy. A poor man who is content may sleep peacefully. A rich man with anxiety may toss and turn all night. Between these two — who do you think would be Happpy? This is not to say that money is useless. We all need it for survival. To make a living. It can also create opportunities to serve and to share; it can be used for the greater good of humanity. The problem is greed, our lust for money, our love for money. And the mistake we make is that we expect money to do what it was never meant to do — to make us Happpy. Happpiness is not a chase, a race to be an ace. It is a choice. Instead of saying, ‘I want to be Happpy,’ we should say, ‘I choose to be Happpy.’ Happpiness is not about money, but moments and minutes. It is about the joy of being in the now, in the present moment. It is about making others Happpy. And when we awaken to our true self — the ultimate truth that we are not the body, mind and ego but the Soul, a part of God, we experience a Happpiness that no market can sell and no currency can measure. A Happpiness that comes from deep within, unaffected by events, circumstances, a state of eternal peace and bliss.
