Let us keep it simple. What does one want? Love? Money? Luxury? No. Everyone needs happiness. One thrives for happiness and tries so hard for the state of happiness that he ends up in sorrow. People say, I am working so hard to be happy in the future. What does this mean? You need to be happy to be happy.
So, what is happiness? A youngster falls in love with a girl, he feels happy. An employee gets a hike in his salary, he is happy. A family man gets his daughter married, he is happy. A school boy tops the class, he is happy. What happens if the girl moves away? What happens if the employee is dismissed? What happens if the boy fails in the next exam?
Happiness is not something which can depend upon material pleasures. What is there today with us might not be forever. So, linking your happiness to something temporary is not so wise for a man. So, what is it, what is happiness then? Everyone’s life is a travel through up and downs, including their heartbeat. But one must ensure that he stays unperturbed. Whatever situation might come, he will stay the same.
As quoted in Bhagavadgita by Lord Krishna himself, “Samatvam Yoga uchyathe”. The equanimity of mind is yoga. One must not run away from the situations, but instead face them with determination. But he must be detached to the results that the work brings to him. The sense of detachment over result must prevail. This is yoga. Training your mind to equally attach with work and detach with its result is yoga. One is called a Yogi, who is undisturbed like still water, who trains his mind to treat both win and loss, joy and sorrow, attachment and detachment equally.
Once done, once the sense of detachment over result enters the mind of the human body, the mind starts delving deep within and realises that “The work is done is through him/her, but not by him/her”. This realisation, will happen in the blink of an eye, which would show us the real anandamaya sthithi (The state of real happiness). The happiness which is true and permanent. So, to stay happy, one must know the definition of happiness, that the feeling we get over material things is not happiness, but joy. Joy is lost, but not happiness.
Happiness is acquired only through the training of both body and mind towards the detachment of result, just as quoted in Gita, the ancient Personality development guide, “ Karmanyeva adhikaarasthe, Maa phaleshu kadaachana” : You only have the right on the work you do, but not on its results.