Happiness is perhaps the most universally pursued experience in human life. Irrespective of differences in age, wealth, education, social status, religion or culture, every human being seeks happiness and endeavours to avoid sorrow.

Yet, there is a fundamental paradox in our pursuit of happiness.

1. We seek happiness through wealth, but wealth does not guarantee happiness.
2. We seek happiness through relationships, but relationships can also become sources of sorrow.
3. We seek happiness through achievements, but the satisfaction derived from achievements is often temporary.
4. We seek happiness through sensory pleasures, but their enjoyment is subject to limitations, dependence and eventual exhaustion.

This raises some basic questions.

Is happiness transactional or relational or absolute?

Are we seeking happiness because external objects/subjects possess happiness, or because happiness is already intrinsic to our own essential nature?

Are we talking about the experience or we talking about the experiencer? 

Well, I am neither a qualified Sociologist nor a Vedantin to provide answers to these questions. All I am going to do is to present you activities of two groups of people from Chavakkad Beach and Nelliyampathy Hills in Kerala with whom I was very “happy” to interact during my recent travel there (for pilgrimage and sightseeing).  Of course I am going to “happily” add my views on what I viewed in these two places and leave the rest to you to decide what “happiness” is all about.