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How to lead a reasonably contented life

I read Khushwant Singh’s “Road to happiness” (Saturday Extra, Sept 12) wherein he has enumerated eight essential steps to live a reasonably contented life. These steps have brought to the fore his often professed agnosticism, even atheism. Had he mentioned another, the ninth step, it would have been liquor whose virtues he has extolled so often in his write-ups.

His essential steps become contradiction in terms when in “Humility”, the second part of the aforementioned write-up, he has eulogised saintly persons like Mother Teresa, Bhagat Puran Singh etc. These two (the others are mainly concerned with love for dogs) did not possess the eight essentials. Yet they led a highly contented, happy and meaningful life so much so that even after death they are remembered, loved and adored — one all over the globe, and the other in Punjab and surrounding areas. Hence, contentment and happiness are not achieved by material possessions but by benevolence, self-sacrifice and philanthropy. An hour or so devoted to prayers makes a person content and happy. Once we realise the Almighty’s generosity, all eight steps given by the writer and the one interpolated by me will pale into insignificance and become redundant.

D.K. AGGARWAL, Hoshiarpur

Happiness is an abstract thing and not a concrete one. So every human being has his own ideas of achieving happiness. Some people are of the view that acquiring wealth is a sure way to happiness, while some say that the acquisition of knowledge is the basis of happiness. Still some others hold the view that by renouncing worldly pleasures one achieves true happiness. Yet others say happiness can be achieved only by surrendering to the will of God. Karl Marx says: “The first requisite for the people’s happiness is the abolition of religion”.

Marcus Tulius Cicero says: “A happy life consists in tranquility and mind, but little as compared to the bounties and blessings of the life.”But that does not entail that one should not strive for happiness in this life. It merely implies that one must not prize this worldly life above the life to come.

Those who renounce the world and refuse to partake of worldly benefits can’t achieve God’s pleasure or happiness. Instead they reject God’s grace and thus show arrogance. To sum up, we can say, one should enjoy the world as the Urdu couplet says.

Duniya mein hoon, duniya ka talabagaar nahin hoon,

Bazaar se guzra hoon, kharidaar nahi hoon.

BILAL AHMAD SHAMIM, Qadian

III

Good health is the road to the world of happiness. A healthy cobbler is happier than a sick king. The writer has aptly advised that one should stop envying those who have performed better than us in life, acquired more money or fame.

Instead, we must channelise our energy to achieve higher goals. Avoid being selfish and be compassionate. These acts will give us a lot of satisfaction which no amount of money can buy. Joy when shared is doubled and sorrow is halved.

An idle mind is devil’s workshop. We must cultivate some creative hobbies to keep us occupied and free from negative thinking.n

HARBANS SINGH, Ambala Cantt

Parents should always be supportive of their children
I read the article “Suicidal tendency among teenagers” (Spectrum, Aug 23) with keen interest. The writers have brought home the point that only parents can solve this sociological problem. But I think that the youngsters, too, can do a lot to avoid this type of death.
Not a very old phenomenon, suicide, dates back to 18th century. Emily Durkhim in his Suicide (1897) has examined the problem in detail. He describes four types of suicides — egotistic, anomie, altruistic and fatalistic. The first two are common today. Egoistic suicides spring from excessive individualism — a consequence of modern materialistic society. Anomie suicides reflect a pathological condition. In the modern society, the suicides committed by farmers who are in debt are an example of anomie suicides.
The rising incidence of suicides by teenagers is a new trend. These stem from excessive competitiveness and high expectations of parents, elders or teachers. In nuclear families where the buffer of joint families is sadly missing, things become all the more grave as youngsters have no one to share their anxiety with.
The treatment lies first in the individual himself. To reduce the pressure of depression, one should not depend on the approval of peers but have faith in oneself. They should have small but realistic goals in life and keep a positive frame of mind.
Parents should always support their child rather than nagging him. They should always remind him about his/her good points and provide full support. This will go a long way in saving precious lives.
VIJAY SHEEL JAIN, Ludhiana