Beyond Happiness

By Vishwa Prakash
http://www.thehappyway.com/

Here is a story from the days of whist on the fabled Mulla Nasruddin.

A very rich man once sought happiness. He tried lots of ways and means but everything had failed. He visited many scholars and saints, he even tried to watch clowns, but really nobody could help him. And then it was that somebody suggested that he go to Mulla Nasruddin.

The man went with a bag full of diamonds, and these he proudly showed to the Mulla, who sat under a tree outside the town, peacefully smoking a pipe. And he told his tale of woe and sadness " I am a very miserable man - I want happiness. All my life I have craved for it and I'm ready to give anything for it , and really I'm aging fast, so please help me - how can I be happy?"

The Mulla looked at the man, and it happened so fast that the rich man was taken totally by surprise. The Mulla jumped on the man, snatched his bag away, and ran off with it! Of course the man followed, crying, shouting and wailing "I have been cheated and robbed, somebody help me please!" The Mulla seemed to know all the streets of the town and he ran the full zig and the zag, this way and that. The rich man had never really run in his life and he was out of breath as the tears rolled and came flowing down "I've been robbed of all my life's savings, help me, save me, please!"

And a crowd followed in the wake of the mayhem, and by the time they caught up with the Mulla, he had come back to the place where he had originally started from, under the same shade tree where the rich man had found him. The rich man soon came upon the scene, crying and wailing in a fit, and the Mulla gave the bag of diamonds back to him.

The rich man then said "Thank God!" as he hugged and kissed the bag with tears now of joy. The Mulla said "Look, I have made you happy. Now you have known and tasted happiness. This bag has been with you for several years and you were unhappy - it had to be taken away from you for you to find happiness".

Happiness is really one face of a coin, and the other face is unhappiness. To be happy you must be unhappy first. If happiness is your goal then you had better find unhappiness. The unhappier you are, then for a few moments - few and far between - you will find happiness.

Money will buy you a HOUSE, but not a HOME
Money will buy you a CLOCK, but not TIME
Money will buy you a BED, but not SLEEP
Money will buy you a BOOK, but not WISDOM
Money will buy you a DOCTOR, but not GOOD HEALTH
Money will buy you POSITION, but not RESPECT
Money will buy you BLOOD, but not LIFE
Money will buy you SEX, but not LOVE
Money will buy you PLEASURE, but not HAPPINESS
Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail

• I do not whistle because I am happy - I am happy because I whistle
• We do not stop playing because we are old - we grow old because we stop playing
• Seeing is not always believing - sometimes you must believe to see
• If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change
• Are we controlled by our thoughts, or are we controlling our thoughts?
• Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have
• There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way

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