The Swan and The Fireman
[Note: This was originally written for a western audience. Hence the explanations for some well known Indian words. Still, it may make for some enjoyable reading] We in the East have a word, Ananda, which roughly translates as Contentment or Freedom from Neediness. The word describes, not the kind of contentment that one may have after a sumptuous meal, but rather, the mellow afterglow that one experiences post a session of perfect lovemaking and a good night’s sleep. However, Ananda is not contingent on any external event like sex, because it is deeply within. To an Eastern mind, it is relatively easy to understand that while success and wealth gives happiness, it also gives one an appetite for even greater success and wealth, rather than the psychological means to enjoy what one has attained. To be content, one has to cease all striving, at least internally. A lot of successful people are described as being like swans, “calm at the surface, but furiously paddl...