When Indian billionaire Ratanji Tata was asked by the radio presenter in a telephone interview:
“Sir, what do you remember when you got the happiest in life”?
Ratanji Tata said:
“I have gone through four stages of happiness in life, and I finally understood the meaning of true happiness.”
The first stage was to accumulate wealth and resources.
But at this stage, I didn’t get the happiness I wanted.
Then came the second stage of collecting valuables and items.
But I realized that the effect of this thing is also temporary and the luster of precious things does not last long.
Then came the third phase of getting a big project. That was when I had 95% of the diesel supply in India and Africa.
I was also the owner of the largest steel factory in India and Asia.
But even here I did not get the happiness that I had imagined.
The fourth step was when a friend of mine asked me to buy wheelchairs for some disabled children.
About 200 children.
At the behest of a friend, I immediately bought the wheelchairs.
But the friend insisted that I go with him and hand over the wheelchairs to the children. I got ready and went with him.
There I gave these children the wheelchairs with my own hands. I saw a strange glow of happiness on the faces of these children. I saw them all sitting in wheelchairs, moving around, and having fun.
It was as if they had reached a picnic spot, where they were sharing a winning gift.
I felt real happiness inside me.
When I decided to leave, one of the kids grabbed my leg.
I tried to slowly release my legs, but the child looked at my face and held my legs tight. I leaned over and asked the child: do you need anything else?
The answer this kid gave me not only shocked me but also completely changed my outlook on life.
This child said:
“I want to remember your face so that when I meet you in heaven, I can recognize you and thank you once again.”
View Comments (3)
Ohhohhh
Thank you so much
everyone is ‘quoting’ this “4 stages of happiness” anecdote. but no one is stating the specifics of the source of it… – the last part of it, of a child making such an extremely *adult* statement talking of meeting in heavens after death etc sounds extremely unlikely – children do not have such thought patterns & vocabulary…
pl give the source of this story so one could check this out? obviously, a disquiet like that risks discrediting and undoing the good of the rest of the thoughts there before it.