WHAT A 96 YEAR OLD REMINDED THE HAPPINESS CATALYST

WHAT A 96 YEAR OLD REMINDED THE HAPPINESS CATALYST

At a celebration to mark my father’s 96th birthday, my cousin Dv Vivekasked him a question – “Your son calls himself the Happiness Catalyst, but what is happiness according to you?”
The response came almost immediately – “Being satisfied with you have.”

There was a spontaneous burst of applause – I suspect for the wisdom, clarity of thought, brevity in communication and the authenticity of the response….Over all these years, I can’t recall any instance of him complaining about any particular situation.

But wait a minute….It’s not as if this man was laid back and content to let the world pass him by. He jumped off planes without a reserve parachute in WWII, was ambitious (youngest General in the Indian Army), learnt to type and use the computer at 70, mastered email at a youthful 80 and started practicing simple yoga asanas when he could not longer walk steadily at 90! So, clearly it was not that he did not wish to continuously improve.

I guess he mastered what contemplative traditions have been telling us for ages….We can grow from one wholeness to another….always complete and working on self-improvement operating out of abundance and not scarcity. The former is underlined by grace and acceptance, while the latter leads to grasping and suffering.

Something for the self styled Happiness Catalyst to ponder about indeed……

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