Änanda & Sukha: Indian model of happiness & its mental health implications

Änanda, along with sätvika, räjasika and tämasika sukha are different types of happiness as discussed in the Indian tradition. Further different pathways to these have also been discussed such as niùçreyasa path to änanda, çreyas path to sätvika sukha and preyas path to räjasika - tämasika sukha. While änanda is experienced on liberation, most people in the world experience sukha, although its type differs based on the path taken. In a series of empirical studies on happiness of sukha type, with urban Indian adults, we found that most people at any point of time are happy. Sätvika qualities and çreyas type of activities were associated with happiness, while räjasika and tämasika qualities, along with preyas type of activities were related to more unhappiness. In general people preferred a mix of both çreyas and preyas type of activities, with higher frequency of çreyas type. High preyas focus in terms of alcohol dependence was associated with high tamas, low sattva and more frequent experience of negative emotions. These studies suggest development of sattva by taking a çreyas pathway may be associated with better mental health, on the other hand predominant focus on preyas pathway may be associated with räjasika - tämasika qualities and poor mental health. More studies are required in future to further test this hypothesis by developing sattva based interventions.