‘प्रापणात् सर्वभोगानां परित्यागो विशिष्यते ।’ means true happiness lies in the sacrifice of pleasures than in indulging in them.
2.1 Sattvik (sattva predominant), rajasik (raja predominant) and tamasik (tama predominant)
• A. Sattvik: Giving happiness to others without thinking about one’s own happiness or suffering. Giving happiness to others does not reduce one’s happiness, as actually it is 100% happiness. This is happiness arising from the mind.
• B. Rajasik: Trying to acquire happiness without causing any unhappiness to others. The happiness obtained from the sense organs and the motor organs is called rajasik happiness, eg. eating a delicacy. In this case, happiness or contentment is obtained instantly but ultimately it culminates into unhappiness for the reasons given below.
• C. Tamasik: One derives happiness by inflicting others with unhappiness and running away from the hardships of life, e.g. drinking alcohol, taking narcotics, harassing others. This may also be termed as happiness arising from ignorance.
• 1. One cannot experience a lot of happiness, eg. one can get a stomach upset by overeating a sweet dish.
• 2. One cannot obtain the objects the moment they are desired, e.g. the sweet shop may be closed or a particular sweet may not be available in the shop.
• 3. Sometimes it so happens that, the happiness gets converted into a necessity, e.g. after enjoying travelling by car it becomes a habit. Thereafter, if the car is unavailable for even a day, one feels unhappy.
Generally happiness experienced by the intellect is sattvik, that by the mind is rajasik and that by the body is tamasik in nature. The happiness derived after the intellect acquires spiritual knowledge is merely due to the elimination of ignorance which is gross. When the mind experiences happiness, its grossness too is decreased.
