Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I Speaking Tree Website I Monday, December 23, 2013
If you are able to be happy with what you already have then you can achieve happiness. If your happiness involves some conditions, then you can never achieve happiness. Happiness is a state of mind, no material goods can give you happiness.
If you have a material list in your mind and you believe that by achieving this list, you can live in happiness, then it is impossible for you to attain happiness. The fact is that this material list has an end on paper, but not in your mind. Either you learn to stop your mind, otherwise your mind will always enlist more and more items. And, you will always live with insatiable conditions.
If you want to live with happiness, then learn the difference between need and desire. Real need of a person is very limited. There is always full stop in the list of real need, but the list based on desire has no full stop. Every day you will include a comma, and this will continue endlessly till your death. The Prophet of Islam has said that if a man were given two mountains of gold, he will ask for a third one. (Musnad Ahmad). It means that man has an insatiable nature. So, it is only contentment that can give you happiness, not abundance.
About myself I can say that I am living in happiness in the sense of contentment. I believe that what I have is quite enough for me. This formula has given me an eternal sense of fulfilment. I say about myself that I am the greatest statusquoist. My statusquoist nature has given me eternal contentment.
Being a statusquoist is not a minus point of one's personality. Instead it is the greatest plus point. One who is a statusquoist is saved from all kind of distractions, and when you are saved from distractions, you have enough time to do all kind of good things, for example, study, positive thinking, human service, etc.
Happiness is not simply a personal quality, happiness is of great value. If you are unhappy then you are bound to live in tension and stress. But if you are happy you are tension-free, you will have no stress, and you will be free of pessimism. Then you will be a positive personality, and a positive personality is the greatest word in human development.
