May the entire universe attain bliss,
may all beings be oriented to the interest of others, let all faults be
eliminated and may people be happy everywhere.
May all persons be happy, may all be
disease free, may all attain well being and let no one be overtaken by
miseries.
Every living being desires happiness
and endeavors to avoid pain and suffering. The question arises how these
objectives can materialize. Generally a person may feel happy if he gets
whatever he desires and can avoid everything that he does not like. Situ
ations however do occur which are not in his interest or do not conform to
his likings. Even when situations occur according to one’s choice, it is
not within his power to make sure that those very situations would
continue to last as long as he likes. Ev ery situation undergoes change
and a person feels miserable when the changed one is not to his liking.
Moreover desires and likes or dislikes of all beings are not identical.
What one person loves may be of utter distaste to another. It is therefore
impos sible that everything can happen to every one’s taste. Viewed in
this light it would seem that there cannot possibly be a way for making
everyone happy.
Fortunately however there is a way.
Two verses, one each from Jain and Hindu traditions quoted above address
to that way. It would be seen that they have the identical meaning. Both
of them convey the same message of well-being for all, for the whole univ
erse and of removal of all evils. Vaidic and Shraman(Jain and Buddhist)
traditions have grown side by side; both have borrowed from and influenced
each other. They happen to be two sisters having more or less identical
and/or complementary approach. It is therefore not surprising that Jain
scholars have time and again insisted on the study of not only Jainism but
also on the six schools of thought prevalent in India and collectively
known as Shaddarshan. Broadly classified, they are known as Vaidic and Sh
raman traditions, both having origin from the same Indo Aryan culture.
Both of them have addressed to the problem of universal happiness and have
discovered that the way is to wish and act for happiness and well being of
all. If every one acts accordingly , the world can turn into paradise and
there would not be any misery; at least the man-made misery would come to
an end.
Indian philosophies being spiritually
oriented, they do not restrict themselves only to the happiness in this
world. Almost all of them believe in existence of eternal soul and
continually changing pattern of every thing else. Therefore they seek
happines s that lasts beyond the present life. Their ultimate aim is to
present path of salvation which is defined as termination of embodiment
and end of birth and death. However, as long as embodiment continues,
their approach is to seek continuing happiness. Th e above two verses
therefore exhort every one to look for the well being of all others, to
stay meritorious in this life and to be sure of reaping fruits of their
merits in subsequent life.
A wise man has rightly said that the
place to be happy is ‘here’, the time to be happy is ‘present’ and the way
to be happy is ‘to make others happy’.
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