1643- HAPPINESS! Pleasure versus Happiness!

HAPPINESS!

The fundamental nature of any living being is to attain happiness and to avoid unhappiness/ inconvenience.
"Human desires manifest as two powerful motivations in life-
(1)acquisition and
(2)enjoyment.
You want to acquire whatever you desire from the world.
And after acquiring you long to enjoy what you have acquired.
There is no taboo to acquisition. But if not adopted moderation in acquisition, propelled by these two motivations you crave to acquire and enjoy more and more in the world. You consume your entire life chasing images of happiness. None has found true happiness in mere acquisition or enjoyment. Yet the chase never ends. People are ultimately exhausted with their futile efforts and become frustrated and unhappy.
Hence there is no joy in the external world.

We can reduce the number of desires entertained by learning to understand that the real locus of happiness is within oneself, not in outside objects or circumstances. So happiness is a state of mind.
Anando Brahman!"
- Swamy Parthasarathy
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Pleasure versus Happiness:

"Pleasure is great-but it doesn’t last. Pleasure comes from your 5 senses. From a great meal, a nice glass of wine and a new car. Nothing wrong with these things-they make the experience of life better. But they are fleeting.
Happiness, well, that’s a different story than pleasure. pleasure comes from something on the outside. Happiness comes from within. It’s a state you create by choice. It’s a decision. It’s an act of will.
People can be happy when they are going through great pain and adversity. There’s no pleasure happening in their external lives and yet they are content on the inside. And, conversely, tons of people are surrounded by pleasure (fast cars, nice homes, great clothes) but there’s no joy within. You can’t control life on the outside. Hard stuff will happen. But you can control what goes on inside."
- Robin Sharma