Pleasure
It seems to me that pleasure is the essence of life. It keeps us fresh and alive. It keeps aside our sorrows, grievances, depressions, and frustrations. We forget the struggles of life when we laugh and smile. We cannot survive without smiles and laughter. Everyone laughs and smiles even if he or she is poor or hungry. Smiles and laughter give us strength and energy to live. The poor and penniless can enjoy love and affection too. Love is the best virtue. Anyone can acquire this quality without spending any money. It is the best contribution to others. It has the greatest power to win the world.
Pleasures cannot be evaluated in terms of money. These are heavenly gifts. The poor and the illiterate enjoy the simplicity of life. Their demands are limited because the targets are beyond reach. They have wonderful feelings of life that cannot be spoilt with complexities, aspirations, and competitions.
I think we would not be able to remain alive without happiness and joys. Our joys are spirits of life. It does not require wealth for being happy. Many rich people are not happy. Many of them suffer from depression and cannot sleep without having sleeping pills. I have seen many poor people who are happy and enjoy pleasures of life. Their demands are limited. They are concerned with only basic necessities of life.
It is a capacity of an individual to enjoy life and be happy. It may depend on the emotional and genetic makeup of a person. We may not get the world as we desire, but it is possible to adjust if we do not find things as per our choice. The reality of life is that we will not experience the world as we want it to be.
Some people feel happy with small things, such as chatting with friends, being with family members, reading a book, watching television etc. Some others are a bit different. They need bigger gains, big events, important achievements etc, to be happy.
Despite differences among individuals, all enjoy some sorts of happiness. This is the basic foundation of a meaningful life.
When I walk in the streets, I observe people and their movements. My brother said, “The streets are crowded. Why don’t you walk on our rooftop?” I said, “I like the streets because I can see people, their movements, their faces, their pleasures, happiness, and sorrows. I feel the vibration of life when I walk in the streets.”
I see the domestic servants, gatekeepers, factory workers, rickshaw pullers, retail sellers, buyers, office stuff etc, laughing and chatting with one another. Sometimes I find them in a group, chatting, laughing and enjoying. They laugh from their hearts. They smile innocently. They do not struggle with complexities, sophistication, and styles. They do not want much. They are happy with little things. Their smiles are clean and fresh. Their laughter creates joys. Simplicity is their beauty. They laugh without any significant reason. They do it spontaneously. They are pleased easily. They could not learn about big gains because those were always beyond reach.
These days, all maid-servants of our locality have mobile phones. They enjoy it very much. When they work as domestic servants, they cannot use mobile phones. It may be regarded as audacity or ill manners. When their masters send them out to buy something, they get the opportunity to talk to their friends for a while. They chat, smile and laugh a lot then.
I have observed the big businessmen, rich landlords, and high officials too. Before laughing and smiling, they consider their personalities, positions, status, smartness, aristocracy, sophistication etc. Simplicity is not their beauty. Their concern is social prestige, wealth, dignity, honour etc. It seems that in their hearts, they are less peaceful and less happy than the lower class people. They are burdened with artificiality.
I was in Government service. I observed that our peons were happier than our Secretaries. They ate less, their lifestyle was poverty stricken, but they slept well. Very few of them suffered from blood pressure or diabetes. They were normal, natural and healthy. It seems that they can enjoy life better than us. They enjoy the pleasure of living that we find difficult to achieve. Our pleasures are not spontaneous. We are burdened with artificiality, fashion, and styles. Our enjoyments are polished, measured and restricted.
We are involved in a rat race. We are always in competition. We don’t have enough rest and sleep. We are running after our targets and goals. We are really tired. We need rest, relaxation, recreation, mental peace, simplicity and sound sleep.
Let us laugh and be merry without any artificiality. Our hearts want pleasure and happiness that would be pure and fresh.
