QuoteUnQuote with KK and Prof Salvatore Babones on The Dharma, Karma and Artha of Indian Democracy. India’s democratic ethos is deeply intertwined with dharma and karma. The wheel in the center of the Indian flag symbolizes this moral cycle—reminding both citizens and leaders of their duties and consequences. Artha is the outcome of the democratic system.
India has its own version of literature, books and writings on democracy and how to rule Bharat right through the Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharat, Chanakiya Niti, etc. But if we were to link these to the neo classical view of Prof Babones, we are going to pull all the issues using the podcast on happiness with Dr Devdutt Patnaik on Dharma, Karma and Artha and map it the concept of Democracy. We will leave the Moksha of the political, the governance, the bureaucratic and the legal constitutional honchos class as a topic for another time for a podcast. This Podcast fully discuss Prof Babones book,
Dharma Democracy: How India Built the Third World’s First Democracy
but focus on what’s next and link it to his book and his penchant for Challenging Western academic orthodoxy; Defending empirical rigor over ideological bias; Advocating for culturally grounded models of democracy—especially in non-Western contexts like India.
Earlier this year I read an investment analyst’s report on Future of Happiness. The subject was very interesting given the current times in Covid. A lot has changed in the world in these times. Firstly, the pace of digitization and social isolation during extended periods of lockdown and secondly, losing some of our near and dear ones who succumbed to Covid in a tragic event. This crisis of mental and emotional well-being and suffering that me and fellow humans have undergone made me wonder about what happiness is and my quest for happiness alone. My journey was a difficult one but, I did see a sense of happiness and I am sharing this through my blog and my podcast.
The Happiness Movement
Even before Covid, in 2012, the United Nations (UN) declared March 20 to be observed as the International Day of Happiness. The day recognizes that happiness is a fundamental human goal and calls upon countries to approach public policies in ways that improve the well-being of all peoples. Venezuela was the first country to establish a Ministry of Happiness. Several other countries followed suit. Closer home, Madhya Pradesh Government under the BJP rule established a Department of Happiness and organized a week-long Festival of Happiness in 2017. The issue here is inspite creating bureaucratic and governance structures, the citizens and people were unhappy. This let me to believe that there is something fundamentally wrong. Therefore let me first define happiness and then decode how to achieve happiness.
What is Happiness?
A Google search on a formal definition of happiness lead me to the various online dictionaries and no formal definition of happiness. This fuzzy description of what we feel under the wide umbrella of happiness is a wide range of positive human emotions that we go through. However, a definition of happiness is well articulated in the book “The How of Happiness”, by positive psychology researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.” After having defined happiness, it’s now time to understand how we experience happiness?
How do We Experience Happiness?
The Western world scholars have two distinct explanations on Happiness and how to experience it? These are:
The “More” Approach: Here happiness is experienced by acquiring material objects that maximize pleasure and minimize displeasure. This approach hinges the fact that happiness depends on acquiring more things or experiences, depends on factors outside of one’s body.
The “Enough” Approach: Here happiness is happiness is experienced by our ability to ride the waves of human experience and cultivate internal wellness, even through turbulent times.
These two approaches however do not yield a perfect sense of emotional and mental well being as an outcome of happiness as it’s a bit alien to my values and personal belief system.
Indian Approach to Experiencing Happiness
Earlier this year, Dr. Devdutt Patnaik, India’s leading mythologist, speaker, illustrator and author, known for his writing on Hindu sacred lore, legends, folklore, fables and parables www.Devdutt.com released a book “Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha – 40 Insights into Happiness” This book resonated very well with me and my values when I read it. In fact, I invited Devdutt to my QuoteUnQuote with KK | Kapil Khandelwal (KK) Podcast. We discussed and dissected many issues around the whole architecture of the 40 insights and the 4 key pillars to experiencing Happiness.
Please read the book and listen to the Podcast “The Mantra for Happiness” to practice and experience Happiness in your life!
