Steps of happiness

As said above, beneath the propositions of Jeevan Vidya lies the philosophy developed by A. Nagraj. He gave it the name of Madhyastha Darshan Sah Astitvavad which may be translated as the philosophy of mutually fulfilling co-existence (Nagraj, 2001b.). He discovered that man wants to be happy but remains unhappy. The reason is that he lacks the right understanding. At present he thinks that he can be happy by accumulating more and more. The fact is that he cannot be happy by accumulating more money. He also cannot be happy by following a solitary religious path. Nobody has ever become happy in this way. Jeevan Vidya shows the way. There are four steps of happiness: harmonious living, an understanding that I have more than I need, lack of fear and co-existence. The precondition for happiness of all is that all must understand this reality. Without right understanding one cannot become happy. One must realize that he is a molecule consisting of matter and consciousness. He is neither a pure matter nor a pure consciousness. Communism and many other attempts have failed because they did not base them on human values. Nagraj (2004b) says: “A man whose maximum part of production is used for distribution and only a small part is used for consumption, is the ideal man. He only is authorized to achieve God realization.” According to the framework of Madhyastha Darshan or Sah Astitvavad, for the whole humanity integral religious and political ethics are based on four principles (Nagraj, 2003):

• States are many but land (united nation) is one.

• They may engage in variety of activities but human race is one.

• There are many paths but human religion is one.

• Gods are many but all pervading reality is one.