Acharya Mahaprajna
An illusion had developed whereby happiness and satisfaction of needs were considered as one and the same objective. Neither Marx nor Keynes could dismantle this illusion. If their thinking had led them to the conclusion that, through the development of our economic theories and economic systems, can fulfil the needs of the people, but for real happiness, they have to search further, the situation would have been different. There would not have been so much violence, so much crime and so much mental stress and turbulence.
When one who did not have a loaf of bread and got it, it gave him relief. But it is difficult to say if he got happiness, since while happiness is associated with feelings, bread is associated with hunger, a physical need. If hunger got satisfied, certainly one's suffering had been removed to that extent, but this did not mean that he acquired happiness. A millionaire or a billionaire does eat food, the best food, but at the same time he is also suffering from unhappiness. He is eating unhappiness along with bread. While eating food, if a phone call comes saying that a big loss had occurred or a loss has been incurred due to an accident, he would become sad. If bread had been the means of happiness, then he would not have become sad. Let us proceed with the premise that bread is a means to satisfy hunger, not a means of experiencing happiness. If Marx and Keynes had been clear about this, the situation today would, have been really different.
A well-to-do person was sitting in a hotel. His son came running. He said, "Father! Our biggest building has caught fire. Along with the house everything else was reduced to ashes." After hearing this, he was engulfed by sorrow. Then the second son came and reminded him that the house was burnt, but the news was that the house had been sold earlier and they had received its full price. Instantly his sadness disappeared. What is the source of happiness and unhappiness? Both these elements are related to one's feelings. Whether the house is burnt down or is saved is important. The material is secondary; the main thing is feeling. Mahavira described satisfaction and happiness as different elements. Each one has a distinct condition of its own. He clarified: what is regarded as happiness is momentary. For a moment one may get happiness but eventually, in course of time, the happiness could be turned into a long-time sadness.
