Smith and his definition -1

He was going through the book with much attention. He was so much involved that he has forgotten a man, I –sitting on the couch just in front him for a long time. He is absorbed in his book so deeply that it seems I’ve asked him to give a sitting as a model to draw his portrait.

I often visit him as he is attractive to me. He is like a Jack but masters of many things too. He has knowledge in many subjects and talks on the topics very interesting way what he knows well. At the same time, he never hesitates to confess his ignorance if the matter is beyond his perception. He is very much honest in this matter. The most interesting thing is that he never blindly believes in anything. He wants to justify on the basis of reasons, in his own reasons. He is religious but doesn’t rely on any rituals. Religious indeed but does not believe in any particular religion.

He suddenly wakes up, lifts his head up from the book and asked me
–What is a definition? How do you explain a definition?
-My answer lies in your question – explanation or meaning or description of anything.
-Then what are happiness and peace?
I was not prepared for it. Though ever one of us uses many words but actually can’t define. Because from childhood we are acquainted and habituated with some words and even use them several times but have never try to think what do those actually mean.
-Happiness means everything is well.
-Then peace?
I stumbled. I’m at a loss.
– You describe.
I can’t present any satisfactory explanation so I surrendered.

-Actually, describe any moment or event of your life when you felt happy.
– The day I bought the car of my choice.
-Are you having the same till date or bought another one?
-No, No, I have changed thereafter.
-That means you were not happy with that very car which you bought for the first time.

I never thought this way so I have to confess that after a time I was not happy with the car I bought and was planning to have a better one although the car I bought first was running smooth.

-So what does that mean? Your happiness did not last. It disappeared. My friend, Happiness is the fulfilling of desire, demands for the time being that never lasts forever. It is a temporary satisfaction of our enjoyment-our earthly pleasure.
-Then you define happiness.

I promptly asked him so that he can’t get a chance to stand me like a class teacher in a school room.

-When you can define happiness, it is very easy to understand peace. Peace is the absence of desire or demand. If you have not any desire or demand you have no chance to be dissatisfied. So you have attained peace.

I can’t hide my reaction to this simple description of peace at first.

-Can you find out a man in the society who has no desire or demand?
-This is the reason why we have no peace at all. We only talk about peace but don’t want it. Because every one of us is running to fulfil his desires and demands which changes time to time. We can’t differentiate what is peace and what is happiness. Always think if we can be happy we will be in peace. But this is a contradictory notion only. So since the dawn of civilization when we started to run after happiness we lost the precious gift of His –peace. And I think we don’t like to give up our hankering after the happiness so we must have to confess that we don’t like peace.
– So you indicate that the society should be a monastery. Everyone will chant the hymns and give up all the activities.

What nonsense. I felt pity for him and his utopian ideas.

– I never meant that, my dear friend. I only try to point out the clear difference between happiness and peace and why don’t get peace though we talk much on this. You see the restlessness among us is going up in families, in societies, in countries and among nations. Wars and battles, crimes and violence, greed and envy, lust and oppression are ruling everywhere. We are being destroyed within us; we are becoming the victim of intolerance and leave no chance to hurt others if slightly anyone touches unpleasantly. Because the demon has come out the bottle we can’t bottle him back. You see in social sites there are tons of quotations or great sayings of the prophets or philosophers. Those are being liked and shared. But All those remain as mere words only because we prefer happiness- my happiness only.

Smith looked straight to me. I found his very lively eyes asking me-Do you differ?