Features of Pleasure and Sorrow

What are the features of pleasure and sorrow? What are the sources and reasons that enhance our pleasures or inflict pain on us? What are the symptoms, indications and definitions of pleasure and sorrow? Is there anyone who wants more sorrow and less pleasure? What resources make us happy? What are the items absence of which make us sorrowful? Is it possible to enhance pleasure and decrease sorrow? Are there any methods to control grief and enhance happiness? These are interesting questions. In fact, when analysed minutely, every effort made by us is to prevent sorrowful events and usher in happy hours. Anything that makes us succeed in these efforts is welcome. Anything else that makes us unhappy is be to kept away as far as possible, if eliminating them is not in our control. 

An example of three persons going to sleep after a long day may throw some light on these issues. The first one is poor and does not have a roof of his own. He does not have a bedroom and a bed. A dilapidated roadside structure gives him refuge. Hard floor is his bed. His own folded hand becomes his pillow. The second one is more lucky. He has his own small house and a normal bed. He is much better off than the first. There is some safety and security for him to enjoy his sleep. The third one is even more blessed. He has a wonderful bungalow and spacious bedroom. A decorated cot with soft bed and pillows await him. All the three go to sleep at the same time and get up the next morning. What was the pleasure that a night's sleep gave them? Was it in proportion to the physical facilities they had or did not have? 

The physical aids like bed, cot or pillow and their relative softness or otherwise are relevant till they fall asleep. Once they fall asleep, the pleasure of deep sleep is the same for all of them. One sleeping on a hard surface may be rejuvenated next morning whereas the one on the soft bed may be spending the whole night shifting sides. The qualities of amenities do not make any difference once sound sleep engulfs them.

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Let us consider the example of a sweet dish. A Jamoon or a Rassgulla for example. If you do not like them, substitute it with your own favourite sweet. The first piece is very tasty and consuming it gives a wonderful feeling. The second may give the same feeling or may feel even better. The third would not taste as good, even though it is from the same bowl or sample. The fifth would make you push it aside. An hour later, the same item may appear disgusting if earlier food is not digested and stomach has turned into a gas chamber. 

Jamoon, Rassgulla or the other sweet are the same. Our liking them or not is not dependant on their qualities. The decision to eat or not is based on the mental state and desire to eat, and not due to the qualities of the items per se. Decision is driven by the mind's like or dislike.

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Many houses are burgled everyday. Some houses are burnt down. Someone dies in an accident. These are mere news items on the newspaper or TV channel. It does not evoke much sorrow or grief. When the burgled or burnt house belongs to someone known to us, it indeed becomes sorrowful news. Except for those who derive pleasure when a enemy's house is burnt down. Then the same news item brings lot of pleasure!

A house is put on sale. A member of the family is away when the sale process is on. On his return he finds that the house is on fire. His sorrow is uncontrollable and he starts crying. Just then someone informs him that the house was sold last week and full sale consideration was received by his family members only three days ago. He is now looking at the same burning house. But the sorrow is gone. The grief was not due to the burning of the house. It had more to do with the house being owned by him. Once the self interest was delinked, the attachment was gone and the grief too vanished.

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These examples make it amply clear that one's pleasure or sorrow does not depend on the tools, resources and their qualities. It is basically linked to the mental state of the person. People are extremely active at times. They are also indifferent at some other times. They even become vengeful and cruel at yet another time. These are all indeed due to mental state and mind's likes and dislikes.

This verse from Vishnu Purana has summed all this thousands of years ago:

नास्ति दुःखात्मकः किञ्चित् न च किञ्चित् सुखात्मकम् |

मनसः परिणामोयं सुख दुःखादि लक्षणः ||

Naasti dukhaatmakam kinchit na cha kinchit sukhaatmakam

Manasah parinaamoyam sukha dukhaadi lakshanah

There is nothing in this world which is pleasurable or sorrowful. 

Mental state decides the qualities of pleasure or sorrow in all objects.

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Does this provide any clue to answer the original question? Are there any methods to control grief and enhance happiness? It indeed answers the same emphatically. Having proper control over the mind enables controlling the grief as well enhancing the pleasures of life. Controlling the mind is not easy. It is worse than a wild horse. Continuous efforts to control the mind and developing an attitude of detachment, but not neglect, is the key. 

Blessed are those.......

The head of the family has an important meeting or function to attend that day.  He is up early, finishes all the daily chores quickly and gets ready to catch the earliest mode of conveyance to reach the venue of the meeting or function. A carefully chosen set of all white dress is kept ready for wearing on the occasion. He is all dressed up and ready to go. Something tugs him from behind.  He turns around to find a pretty little face smiling at him. His grandchild is pulling his dress and looking up at him. The child was playing around in the house and its entire body is dirty. So are the hands. The dirt has now firmly been transferred to his all white dress and makes a striking impact at first sight. There is no way now for him to go out in that dress. He has to either change the dress or answer everyone who sees him as to why the dress is dirty. He is in a quandary.

He shouts at the grandmother or mother of the child. The admonition is all the more severe if the grandmother is nearby. "You are so careless. See, what your grandson (or granddaughter, as the case may be) has done. My dress is all dirty. How can I go out now in this dress?  I have no time to search for an alternate set and change over. You are causing unnecessary problems for me. You are always like this." Shouting is reserved only for the grandmother or mother. The child is not to be scolded. He picks up the child and embraces it unmindful of adding further dirt on his now half-dirty dress. The urgency of the meeting or function is temporarily forgotten and he continues to play with the child for some more time. Other things can wait but not the moments to be spent with the child. 

His departure is delayed further and plans for the day are disrupted.

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The door bell rings. Head of the family is busy with some important task. He frowns and hurries to the door to open it. He finds someone elderly and dignified standing at the door. His expression changes immediately.  He prostrates at the feet of the guest and brings him in by holding his hand. The guest is seated now. He calls all the other members of the family. Mere mention of the name of the guest changes their expressions and all of them pay their fullest respects to the guest. He is treated as a messenger of the god they believe in.  When the guest is finally ready to leave, the head of the family says with folded hands, "Our long time wish is fulfilled today. We are extremely thankful for your visit. We are fortunate to have your "Paada-dhooli" (dust on the feet, meaning your visit) in our house. We are indeed blessed today!"

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Kavikulaguru Kaalidasa has no hesitation to say that the first one above, with the dirty dress, is indeed the blessed one! The second one is blessed too, but the bounty received by the first one is no less than the other. This is a scene from his celebrated work, Abhignana Shaakuntalam: 

King Dushyanta has gone to the heavens to support and assist the King of Gods, Indra, in fighting his enemies. After the victory in the war with a substantial contribution by King Dushyanta, Indra has instructed his charioteer Maatali to take Dushyanta in Indra's personal chariot back to his kingdom on earth. On the path of the journey, they pass through Sage Maareecha's ashram. They stop to pay respects to the revered couple. While entering the ashram, King Dushyanta sights a young boy fearlessly playing with a lion cub. 

They boy forcefully opens the mouth of the cub and tells the cub, "Yawn and open your mouth widely. I want to count the number of teeth in your mouth". His mother's friends forbid him from forcing the cub. They exclaim that the name "Sarvadamana", meaning tamer of everyone, is justified for the boy. They offer him an alternate toy, a peacock. He is not interested in it and does not let go the lion cub. (King Dushyanta does not know that the boy Sarvadamana is his own son and Shakuntala is the mother. He does not also know that they boy will, in due course, become famous as Bharata chakravarthy and our land will be known as "Bharata", getting its name due to him). Dushyanta exclaims:

आलक्ष्य दन्तमुकुलान् अनिमित्त हासैः  अव्यक्त वर्ण रमणीय वचः प्रवृत्तीन् |

    अङ्काश्रय प्रणयिनस्तनयान् वहन्तॊ धन्यास्तदङ्ग रजसा मलिनी भवन्ति ||  

Aaalakshya dantamukulaaan animitta haasai

             Avyakta varna ramaneeya vachahpravrutteen,

Ankashrayapranayinah tanayaaan vahanto 

             Dhanyaastadanga rajasa malinee bhavanti

"Children smile for no reason.  When they so smile, their pearl like teeth peer through the mouth. When they talk, the words may not make meaning and yet we understand them. When you hold them, the dress gets spoiled due to the dust present all over their body. But the ones who have such muddied (dirtied) dress are the real blessed ones!" 

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There is a big difference between the blessings brought in by the two (the child and the elderly guest) in the two instances discussed above. In the second instance, the elderly guest has dust only on his feet as he walks erect. The head of the family receiving him, therefore, says that they are blessed by his "Paada-dhooli".  But the first one is even better. His grandchild is playing on the ground and its whole body is covered with dust. Hence Kaalidasa uses the term "Anga-rajas" as against "Paada-rajas". This is the subtle difference the Mahaakavi makes in his interpretation.

There is another important dimension between the blessings brought in by the two discussed above. The elder one has attained the position and the capacity to offer blessings due to leading a long, dignified and pious life devoted to serving others. The child does not bless us nor understands even the meaning of "blessing". But it is in itself a package of blessing sent from above!  It is truly blessing personified. This is not just a blessing; it is a symbol of continuity of life, its eternal charm and unending pleasures. 

It is a pleasure to work with those........

Perry Mason stories have thrilled millions of readers the world over for decades. There are claims that the series is the most widely read in history. The TV serial series on Perry Mason's case are still popular and being shown even today. Only regret is that the characters of Perry mason, Della Street and Paul Drake are nowhere near the description we get in the books themselves. The actors have acted quite well in the episodes, we have to concede. These stories have fascinated generations of readers. In each and every case, somewhere in the many pages of suspense and intrigue, there is always a peculiar principle of law. There are also some truths of life and some analysis of human behavior by a trained mind. No surprise, E S Gardner's "Court of last resort" could establish innocence of many convicts. "The case of the Howling Dog"was made a movie as early as in 1934.

Among the many cases is one by name "Case of the Mythical Monkeys".  Mason suggests in the courtroom for matching the finger print of a witness, Mrs Joseph Manly, with one found in the scene of the crime to solve the murder mystery. Lt. Arthur Tragg is in the witness chair, being cross examined by Perry Mason in the court of Judge Arvis Bagby.  Mrs Manly, sitting in the court room starts running away from the court. At this point, I quote from the book:

Lt. Arthur Tragg half arose, then settled back in his chair.

"Aren't you going to follow that woman and bring her back?" Judge Bagby demanded indignantly of Lt. Tragg.

"Not right away,"  Tragg said, with a slow drawl.  
"and may I ask why not?"

"Well, it's like she said,"  Lt. Tragg observed, "the fingerprints in the cabin proves she was lying, but that's all. But her flight is evidence that the district attorney can use in case against her when he's trying her for murder.  So if she is foolish enough to resort to flight, I'll give her a good start before I catch her."

Slowly the look of annoyance on Judge Bagby's face was replaced by a smile. "It is always a pleasure to watch a really efficient officer at work,"he said.

We meet dozens of people at work every day. Some give us a sense of calm of security and comfort when they handle our issues. We feel we are in safe hands. But many leave us with goose bumps. Some grasp our requirements pretty fast and some others drive us crazy. Some are efficiency personified while some others are down right incompetent. We have often recall "Peter's Principle"and understand that we are dealing with incompetent officials. Officials who can quote ten rules to tell you why your job cannot be done. But the same job is done ten times by another official, and well within the same rules.

If we go to a school and ask young kids "What is apple?",  they are more likely to say that it is a company founded by Steve Jobs. "Apple is a fruit" could be the second best answer. Steve Jobs was a man who knew his job. He was more than that. He was a visionary. His dreams were not for himself, but for a generation of people. 56 years is not an age to die. He looked more and more frail in the last few years.  But the vision appeared to become stronger each day. "For those of us lucky enough to work with Steve, it was an insanely great honour..........." said Bill Gates in his tribute. "Had the pleasure of working for him and knowing him. he was our Edison"said actor-writer-director Albert Brooks.

"Design is just not what it looks like and feels like Design is how it works." are his famous words. And his products at apple worked.  Long after similar products bought elsewhere stopped working. Many of us did not know him personally. We did not have the pleasure of working with him. But we did have the pleasure of working with the products he pioneered.  It was a pleasure to work with him for thousands. It was and still is a pleasure to work with the products of Apple for millions.

 As Judge Bagby said in the "Case of Mythical Monkeys , it is always indeed a pleasure to watch an efficient officer at work.  It is indeed a pleasure to work with  those who know their jobs.  Especially for those, who do not know theirs, we may as well add.