Vishal Gupta, a renowned author, and a well established criminal lawyer, always believes that every situation can be encountered with a solution-based approach and that’s the only way to move forward in life. With immense faith in the goodness of love, life and people, Vishal in a chat with Editor-in-Chief Dr. Vaidehi shared his inspiration behind penning down ‘Happyness Bank’, his idea of happiness, how to find it, how to celebrate the life, and future plans.

Why “Happyness Bank” when there are hundreds of blogs by various bloggers and somewhat similar to what you have written?

Happiness Bank is a radical new idea and concept, given to the world by the authors. The idea stems due to the dismal present situation mankind is passing through. War, terrorism, poverty, climate change, etc., are increasing every year and there is no one idea to reverse this death spin of self-destruction. No government or organisation has any idea of how to stop a man from destroying himself.

It is now a question of “whether” rather than a question of ‘when’ mankind will destroy itself.

The only way we can stop all the unwanted problems mentioned above is when man himself changes from inside – his inherent nature.

The Happyness Bank is that idea, which when implemented will create an irreversible, long term, inherent, positive change in man, thus stopping the death spin which mankind is caught into.

Happyness Bank is an idea where every human being will be given a free Happyness Passbook and a list of pre-defined “Good Work List”. As people will complete the activities in the list, their good work will be Recognised, Recorded and Rewarded (3 R’s). This idea when implemented from a young age within the impressionable minds of children will create future men and women who will co-operate and grow together, rather than compete and destroy each other. Happyness Bank will tap into the inherent goodness of man which presently remains dormant due to the current education system.

Happyness Bank is a 100 per cent original idea. To the best of our knowledge, such an idea has never been suggested before by any individual/organisation.

The book is unique because not only does it give an idea but even gives the entire procedure of execution on 3 levels, – a village, a corporate and a nation. The point system given in this book is very unique as it gives equal opportunity to the poor v/s rich, man v/s woman, and young v/s old.

How has ‘Happyness Bank’ changed the world?

The Happiness Bank concept has been introduced through this book recently and it is hoped that organisations/schools/corporate and countries will take notice of this idea and implement it in their respective Jurisdictions.

The complete benefit and change that Happyness Bank will bring about is a matter of time and implementation. It is yet to be implemented and seen.

However, the authors have envisaged the future and predicted that if it is successfully implemented across organisations and countries, then by 2047, it is possible that, HAPPYNESS BANK will change the lives of billions of people around the world since almost a hundred countries would have chosen to adopt the scheme into their system. The authors envisage the United Nations will actively support the idea and form a separate committee that would assist countries in the implementation and execution of the HAPPYNESS BANK.

The earth would have become a better place to live in, as the death spin of mankind towards self-destruction would have been reversed. The simple yet effective idea of the 3 R’s— RECOGNISING, RECORDING and REWARDING good work, with a simple passbook, would have brought about unfathomable amounts of positivity in people.

Global terrorism and other criminal activities would be at their lowest, resulting in an obvious increase in the HAPPYNESS INDEX.  The last three decades would be the first decades where progress would be made by co-operation, love, and goodness, instead of annexations, war and destruction.

Through the HAPPYNESS BANK, mankind will, at last, discover a way to harness its most potent energy—the energy of LOVE and GOODNESS, and achieve its most cherished goal—the goal to be HAPPY.

 Tell us something about the idea of Happiness.

Happiness cannot be defined in words or symbols. It is a state of ‘Being’ and a state of experiencing.

Unfortunately, it cannot be expressed in any language. Analogies, Metaphors, idioms, examples, Anecdotes, similes can be used as signposts or guidelines to describe the state. However, no exact definition can be given.

Every person may have his own personal definition of happiness and they all are right.  The authors found our ‘Real’ happiness through ‘Giving’ and ‘Serving’, and the idea in this book is a reflection of our own experiences and evolution in life.

Tell us about Cyrus Gonda’s contribution to this book. Whose Brainchild Happyness Bank is and how you both emerged with the topic!

This book is the brainchild of Vishal Gupta. Cyrus has edited the book, polished the language and given valuable inputs to develop the concept.

Have you reached the state of joy? What were your efforts to achieve the same?

Joy and happiness is a very personal thing and it is a state of being which can be lived but cannot be described in words.

However, we would like to take this opportunity to differentiate between some words and concepts to give the reader food for thought. Some people consider temporary euphoria, temporary possession of an expensive asset as a happy thing. Some people consider gain of money/power/fame as a happy thing. However, time and again it has been proved without fail that money/power/fame and expensive assets do not bring in happiness. They bring a temporary sense of euphoria which within a few days turns into sometimes a burden or sometimes a vice.

On the other hand, there is a state of ‘Being’ where you are satisfied with whatever you have, you are always in a mode of giving and helping, you accept difficult situations with courage, and you are calm and steady under all situations. You love and care for people unconditionally, you expect less from other people and so on and so forth.

I have seen and been on both ends of the spectrum, I have swung to both extreme of the Pendulum. I have experienced both the states of being and living. I have found my own middle path, my own balance between the two extremities.

I enjoy and celebrate every moment for whatever, it brings to me. The central concept of Happyness Bank of “Doing good work” and “Helping others” has played a crucial part in my life in achieving this state.

So – Yes, I have achieved a state of ‘Anand’ or ‘Joy’ and this book is a reflection of one of the things, I have done to attain that state. In fact, this book itself is a living proof that I have reached a state of Joy because it is only in such a state of ‘Joy’ that such an idea can take birth and manifest itself.

Hereafter, won’t there be any sad things in life? How do you define overcoming sadness?

Sadness is the absence of happiness. Sadness is not the opposite of happiness. Sadness is like darkness.

Let me give an example to explain. Darkness by itself is not something. You cannot catch darkness and bring it into a room or you cannot contain darkness in a box and move it from one place to another. Darkness is just simply the absence of light. If you want to remove or overcome darkness, you simply bring in light. Similarly, sadness is the absence of happiness. If you want to overcome sadness, bring in happiness.

We are neither in control of external situations nor we can change people. Every morning when we wake up, life greets us with challenges. So, life is daily throwing challenges at us. We have no control over what challenge is thrown at us but how we have control over we perceive and react to these challenges and situations.

Happiness may not be found in the flow of life but may be found in the change of attitude and perception towards life. Every hurdle can be converted into a stepping stone, every loss can be converted into an opportunity, and every failure can be converted into a lifelong learning experience.

Can happiness be achieved by reading a book?

First of all, happiness is more about losing many things rather than achieving. Losing what? Well, losing our big fat egos, our fears, our expectations, our desires, etc.

Happiness is a journey. This journey is full of experiences which come from our own life experiences, other people’s life experiences, interaction, and communication with other people, and of course reading books.

Books, which are written by people who share their own personal experiences, are a very good source of information which can be understood and imbibed by a reader in this pursuit for happiness. However, books written by authors based on their shallow knowledge and cut copy paste from other books cannot bring a genuine and life-changing experience.

 After “Happyness Bank”, what’s next?

Well, my second book is about “Blissful Breathing” (How to breathe correctly to cure all your Mind and Body problems).

95 per cent of the population breathes incorrectly and this causes most of our health problems from depression and anxiety to blood pressure and diabetes.

The 5 per cent people who breathe correctly are babies between ages 0–5. After that age, they develop various kinds of fear and perceptions which leads to incorrect breathing. This book will give readers various different breathing techniques for insomnia, depression, anger, hunger, agitated mind, etc.

Any message to our readers?

Presently, the most rampant diseases which are spreading like wildfire are depression, stress, and anxiety. In fact, 90 per cent of our health problems can be traced back to our minds. People are unhappy, agitated, angry, and miserable.

Therefore, it becomes very important for us to think about what things/activities bring about happiness in us.

The authors do not intend to force upon the reader any one idea of happiness and they don’t want to preach that only their idea can lead to happiness. In fact, the authors want the readers to start thinking and experimenting and acting upon things which they think can create happiness in them.

So, our advice to the readers is – Be Happy and Celebrate Life Every Second.