Wisdom Leads to Happiness

Course Offered at the Evergreen Forum

Please sign up for the course ‘Wisdom Leads to Happiness’, if you have interest in these topics. Ashwini Mokashi will be teaching the course from February 25th April 14th on Tuesdays from 10 am to noon. https://www.princetonsenior.org/evergreen-forum/evergreen-forum-course-list/

How often do you ask the question ‘why am I so happy today?’ You probably don’t. But we often ask the question, ‘Why me? What have I done to deserve this XYZ?’ Normally we take our good fortune for granted and only focus on trying to analyze, blame or hold responsible, that which is not right in our lives. This course will help you reflect on various aspects of life to understand some universal principles of virtue, wisdom and happiness in the light of the Philosophy of Stoic Seneca and the Bhagavad-Gita.

This course studies the concept of ‘a wise person’ in Seneca and the Bhagavad-Gita, based on the book Sapiens and Sthitaprajna by Ashwini Mokashi. It will explore how in both the systems, a wise person is endowed with virtue and wisdom, is moral, detached from passions, makes right judgements and takes responsibility for actions. A wise person always enjoys happiness. The course will look at the guidelines provided by Seneca and the Gita, survey their similarities and differences in their application of these ideas and see how wisdom paves the path to individual happiness and societal well-being.