True spirituality helps us cope with life better

What is happiness and how do we measure it? Recently, the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank, tried to rank 110 countries for their state happiness, or the “happiness index”. These 110 countries make up 93 per cent of global population. To measure their relative happiness, they have been evaluated based on eight different categories: Economics, entrepreneurship, management, education, health, security, individual freedom and social relations.
In the evaluation, it was not the amount of money and the “quality of life” that were measured. According to the organisers, “The index defines prosperity as both wealth and well-being, and finds that the most prosperous nations in the world are not necessarily those that have only a high gross domestic product (GDP), but are those that also have happy, healthy and free citizens.”
What is surprising is that the most “prosperous” nations on earth are dominated by western Europe. They are in the following order: Norway, Denmark, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada and Switzerland, to name a few. What is more surprising is that while China finished at 58, Brazil came at 45, Russia at 63 and India was ranked rather low at the 88th position.
One of the legitimate criticisms against the survey is that it tends to equate happiness with “prosperity” and external freedom. Still for a country like India, which prides itself as a “spiritual oasis” and a religious nation, it makes us retrospective.
It is true that spirituality does not prevent pain and suffering. In fact, most spiritual authors claim the more spiritual one is, the more one has to go through the “dark night of the soul”, which leads to further mental and spiritual darkness.
Thus, although, spirituality does not alleviate human suffering, it makes us cope with life. It provides us with a larger vision and a meaning for our existence. Genuine spirituality liberates us internally and externally so that we can face life with more love and compassion. Thus, true spirituality, even while it does not reduce suffering, enables us to cope with suffering better. It makes us competent to face suffering and sadness, and, thus, cope with them much more effectively. Genuine spirituality does not deny suffering, and, in doing so makes us more free and less anxious. Thus, genuine spirituality and unhappiness cannot go together.
Liberation, the goal of religions, is not merely an otherworldly one. It starts already here on earth. If we continue to be unhappy and unwell, we cannot claim to be religious. If we do not live as “happy, healthy and free citizens”, it makes no sense to speak of spiritual maturity or religious openness.
We do not need to take the claims of this survey as absolute truth. Still, if the survey has some credibility, it is a warning to India: A land that is the birthplace of four major living religions today, besides numerous minor religions. A land that is spiritually mature and culturally rooted must be, by and large, a happy and contented one. Otherwise, there is something fundamentally wrong with the way we relate to life with our spirituality.
In addition, at a personal level, I may have serious troubles and severe problems. But, if my spirituality is of any worth, it has to enable me to stand up in the long run. It has to enable me to face life, even in its extremes. It has to let me celebrate life with its tragedies. Thus, on the whole, extreme unhappiness and deep spirituality do not go hand in hand. This is true for all people and groups.

(The writer is a professor of science and religion)