Understanding Happiness: A Vedantic Perspective

Contentment: Perceived Completeness across Cultures and Traditions

“…Arjuna, a warrior for one of the families, refuses to lead his troops to march on the enemy, which is comprised of his relatives and beloved teachers. Upon asking the heavens for guidance, Krishna, a form of the god Vishnu, intervenes by teaching Arjuna the inner workings of consciousness, the universe, and santosha (divine contentment, see Banavathy & Choudry, 2014): “One who revels only in the universal essence, and is content [ santosha ] in the universal essence, no duty exists for him” (III.17); “Contentment in whatever comes of its own accord, transcending duality, free from envy, balanced in success and in failure, he is not bound to karma even when performing actions” (IV.22); and “To whom praise and insult are same, who is silent, content with anything, who is without a home, with unwavering mind, a person who is such a devotee is dear to me.” (XII.19)…”

An empirical study of ancient wisdom: Effect of nonattachment (anasakti) and ego (ahamkara) on well-being

“…The metaphysical self, termed as Atman or Purusha, is considered the true nature of a being. It is inherently blissful and embedded in the pure consciousness or transcendental reality (Brahman), and realization of this self leads to utmost happiness (Banavathy & Choudry, 2014;Chandur & Sriram, 2018;Desai & Collins, 1986;Salagame, 2014). Conversely, the empirical self indicates a self-sense that is rooted in worldly experiences.…”

“…Among many attempts for searching ways of long-lasting well-being, it has been observed that knowing the true nature of happiness has been one of the main concerns in classical Indian philosophy since ancient times (Bhawuk, 2010;Dabas & Singh, 2018; K. Singh et al, 2017). The ancient wisdom believes that joy is the basic nature of human, which does not depend on worldly modes (Srivastava & Misra, 2011; Banavathy & Choudry, 2014).…”

Positive Psychology Progress in India: Accomplishments and Pathways Ahead

“…Examples in favor of this argument may be presented through IP concepts similar to PP literature. For instance, various texts of the Vedas explain happiness as being subjective, not the absence of unhappiness, the primary motivator, a psychological state, which helps maintain interconnections with others, gives us the freedom to choose, and is realizable (Banavathy & Choudry, 2014). Furthermore, there are writings about happiness in the Taittiriya Upanishad, where the self (atman or chitta) is enveloped in five layers or koshas (Shrivastava & Misra, 2011) and distinctions have been made about different kinds of happiness and momentary pleasures in Eastern thought traditions (Misra, 2014;Shrivastava & Misra, 2011).…”

“…Rao's target article on how PP and IP need to reinforce each other, generated responses from Cornelissen (2014), Dalal (2014), Salagame (2014), and others on the similarities and dissimilarities between IP and PP and the problems faced (Mehrotra, 2014). Other topics embraced were Vedantic perspective of happiness (Banavathy & Choudry, 2014), positive emotions and cognitive flexibility , exceptional mental states and psychological well-being (Pirta, 2014) and well-being of rural women (Singh, Kaur, Singh, & Junnarkar, 2014). Thus, the emergence of PP in the West and attempts to draw parallels with IP concepts, makes it important for PP research in India to consider cultural components more critically to be able to widen its range of applicability.…”