What is Happiness?

Everyone is seeking happiness. What is happiness?’ Śvetaketu asked his father this question, long ago. His father replied ‘One sign of happiness is that one who has it is active. One who does not have it, is not active. His/her mind will be cramped and weak. In the finite, there is no happiness. So you must desire to understand the Infinite.’ The boy wanted to know how to understand the Infinite. Father said ‘Listen well to what I say and think deeply about it. When a person sees that nothing and no one is separate from oneself, that one is as one with all people, animals and objects. When one knows, sees and hears nothing else, that is the Infinite. But if one sees or feels some other thing, obstructing or separating oneself, then that is the finite. Then one has not found the Infinite. The finite is transient; the Infinite is eternal. Knowledge of the Infinite gives everlasting happiness.’ -(Chhāndogya Upanishad VII 22-24)