7 Steps To Happiness According To Hinduism
Hindu legend is the story of the only happy man in the ancient kingdom. Some very wealthy people lived in this place, but they could not enjoy their riches. They always wanted more. That’s why they spent most of their time doing business and growing their fortunes. Others, on the other hand, were very poor. They were also not happy because they devoted much of their lives to dreaming about the things they lacked.
When it began to gossip that there was a man who was completely happy, everyone was really interested in meeting him. They said that this man had a coffin that contained all the secrets needed to achieve happiness. The rich man found him in his hands and wanted to buy a coffin from him, but the man refused to sell it. The poor begged him, but the wise man did not give up. They even tried to rob him, but without success.
After a while, the child arrived at the place where the man was with his precious coffin. She told the man she also wanted to be happy. The happy man moved when he saw the child’s innocence. He told the child that happiness is like a ladder and every step towards it required learning a new lesson. So he showed the child 7 steps to happiness.
Step 1: Develop self-love to be happy
The man who owned the coffin told the child that the first condition to be happy is self-love. Self-love means feeling worthy of happiness. To achieve this you need to give value to your life. Take care of your health and physical well-being.
It is also necessary to understand that we are unique individuals in this world. It means that all our virtues and evils are the result of the unique history of the universe. We are no more or less of it than anyone else, but simply the result of millions of unrepeatable causes.
Step 2: Act, get things used
One of the things that can make people all the happier is to hope to be the best or to have a better life, but still leave it to the level of thought. This leads to frustration and guilt. If you think you can or should do something, do it. You don’t have to hesitate or think about it too much.
It is also important that your actions are consistent with your words. And of course with your thoughts. If you think a certain way but act differently, you will only get confused. Instead, when there is balance in your inner world, everything else goes much easier.
Step 3: Get rid of envy
People who spend their lives thinking about other people’s accomplishments rather than considering their own create the way to bitterness. You never know what another person has gone through to achieve or acquire what they have. So you’re not fit to judge if they deserve it or not.
Instead of thinking about what happens to others, take care of your own success. If you allow envy to flourish in your heart, you will suffer. Your suffering will be useless and destructive. If you manage to feel happy about the success and achievements of others, your happiness will double. You get more inner strength to achieve your own goals.
Step 4: Fight resentment
Sometimes we get insults that are so strong that the pain lasts forever in our hearts. Over time, the pain turns into frustration. And this later turns into anger. Eventually, you will end up carrying a very negative feeling inside you that will paralyze you.
Disapproval is one of those useless passions that greatly harms the person who incubates it in their mind. Life has its own logic. For that reason, when you get hurt, you should remember that the person who caused it gets their own credit. Sooner or later it will reap what it sows. Therefore, everyone should strive to forgive, forget, and let go.
Step 5: Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you
According to Hinduism, anything you take illegally from others has serious consequences. Over time, the one who committed the crime will be removed from something of even greater value. Without valuing other people’s property, it will eventually make everything you acquire simply disappear.
This does not refer only to tangible goods. It also involves stealing ideas, feelings, and interests that don’t belong to you. For Hindus, such an disrespectful act leads to the moral and material destruction of a person.
Step 6: Get rid of the beating in your life
No one should ever be beaten. This includes humans as well as, of course, plants and animals. He who manages to interact lovingly with life manages to be happy. All living beings are sources of joy and well-being and should therefore be valued.
This, of course, requires a radical refusal of abuse. It’s good to be tough, fight off any situation or person who assaults or exploits you. Exploitation is not in any form “for your own benefit” or for the benefit of anyone else. In order to develop or correct errors, it is not necessary to tolerate destructive means.
Step 7: Be grateful every day of your life
It is very simple and has a powerful effect on your emotions. Every day you have reasons to be grateful, don’t doubt it. If you adopt a habit of making the word “thank you” the first word you use every day, you will notice how your life just fills with colors.
This simple ritual changes lives. When it becomes a habit, it puts you in a position of goodness as well as a tendency to goodness towards everything. It will make you feel happier and make you a more generous person. In addition, it will give you a clearer sense of everything valuable that is in your life.
We have already mentioned that those 7 steps that lead to happiness are like a ladder. One step follows another. They form an evolutionary series of events that lead to inner peace. That peace is the only priceless condition for attaining happiness. Being happy means achieving a state in which a person accepts himself or herself and all variations in life with dignity and intelligence.
