From birth to death
All are in search of happiness
Often not knowing at all
What constitutes happiness?
So far hardly anyone has said
They were indeed happy and peaceful
All have woes to unload
Intensity differs from person to person
One thing which is common to all
All of them are sad and grieving
In this process they fail to see
What they possess and what they lack
Looking for elusive happiness everywhere
Days are spent in vain
Then one day the death overtakes
Yet the hankering remains strong
If there is a rebirth
Then the show repeats
So from life to life
The journey goes on unendingly
Is there no way out or path
To escape from this self made pain?
Let us pause and look awhile
And possibly learn something
Look at a child, merry and happy
It has no care in the world at all
No child sits and brood
Crying about happiness not found
Look again at animals
Contented, happy and peaceful,
You don’t see an animal howling
All along without any cause
Then why do the human beings
Keep to a weeping mode
Lamenting to all and sundry
About their plight and destiny?
All are bitter in one way or other
Scale differs, but the crux remains
Is there no way out or path?
To escape from the self made painful path
Think again, who was really happy
Let us peep into the history
Mighty monarchs, dictators and others
All had their own stories of woes
Budha,Jesus, Rama, Yudhishtir
Kamsa, Ravana,Duryodhana, Aurangazeeb
Ashoka, Shivaji, Akbar, Gandhiji
Tilak, Netaji, Tagore or Shakespeare
Let us therefore learn to know
Happiness does not come to all
By desires, power or with wealth
It is something inborn and inside
Friends, relatives, society et al
Wife, children, office and boss
Don’t give peace or worry
Your thinking and actions do
Don’t blame others for your thoughts
Immaturity and skewed views
Stop blaming and quit lamenting
Change your views and be happy
Learn to accept the world as it is
Using your emotional intelligence
Sooner you realise this truth
Journey later will be smooth
It is time one desires joy
Then work ceaselessly for attaining it
Eschewing quarrel, hatred and ill will
Throw out all that takes away joy
Are we striving to achieve happiness?
Then we should not indulge in negativism
Choose well the path you take
Then happiness will be within your reach
Today all are miserable, because
They have taken the wrong way
How can then the right destination be reached,
If you have taken the wrong train?
Let us change the track of thoughts
Let us board the correct train
Let us watch diligently our path
Lest we don’t stray again.
Happy you are, if you think so
Miserable, if that is what you think
The environment is neutral,
Your thinking only makes the difference
All religions repeat the same thing
That mind controls your moods
Learn to check your minds
If you hanker for happiness soon
Choice is yours to be happy and contented
Or to be grumpy and miserable
Choose well with care and diligence
Tomorrow may be too late
For what indeed are you looking
That you don’t really have now
Do you lack eyesight or hearing?
Or suffer from something incurable
Do you lack some limb in you body
Or lack some social security
Do you lack job or income?
Or house, children and friends
Have you been hit by a cyclone?
Or were you a victim of earthquake
Have you lost someone in war?
Or in some disasters like bomb blasts or riots
What is earthshaking that you have faced?
You feel like grieving forever
In fact have you lost anything at all
To lament aloud to one and all.
In fact nothing you have lost
Count your blessings in life
Your wrong thinking is the culprit
From which you have to come out
World can meet the need of all
It can’t meet the greed of even one
Is it the need that really haunts you ?
or the unlimited greed of the mind
Many in fact choose misery
They like to grumble than laugh
They have made it their motto
Even God can’t help such people
Learn not to blame God, religion, others
For your self made woes and moans
Decide now to come out of it
To make life happy for self and others
There are plenty already sad and wailing
Make the life a little smooth for all around
For your own time here is not unlimited
Is there any doubt at all on that count?
None of the above is new or earthshaking
Only practitioners are lacking
Make a difference to all those you meet
Don’t make a delay as time is running out
All want peace and happiness to one's dear and near
But act in a manner opposite to that
When will we learn, oh, when at all
Not after the retirement or death of the individual
Let us choose concord to discord
Let us choose welfare to selfishness
Let us choose happiness to misery
And last but not the least
Let us choose harmony to hatred.
