What is happiness?

This is first thing I ask myself when I took my lessons at Hindu Centre. How do you define happiness? Is acquiring money, gold, property brings happiness? It does isn't it? It is lie if you say "No'...I'm always happy with what I have. BUT how long? Everything constantly change around including our love ones......

Then sometimes back I read this article by Swami H.H. Swami Tejomayananda

Happiness is to be fully content, to be totally satisfied with oneself; something that is only possible once we have realised our true Self.

At a practical level:
1. To be happy is to not be swept away by desires and passions (Bhagavad Gîtâ).
2. We are happy when we have nothing to hide in our life (no skeletons in the closet!), when everything in our life is transparent and we don't fear any inspection or investigation.
3. To be happy is to be totally independent.
4. There is a happiness in serving others: but we experience it only when we don't consider others as "others", but as oneself.

I always tend to hear "True Self" in most of the books I read and also in Satsangs.... The meaning of "True Self" is indeed very deep and I realise that there is so much effort required to know the "True Self"

Everyone natuarally has desires and passions...even a swamiji who author books have desire to publish the book...so it is right to say that "to be happy is to not be swept by desires and passions??"

We should be happy when we are transparents especially to our spouses but sometimes it is difficult due to the circumstances we are in..then how?? Are we making mistakes??

So my definition of happiness is still unclear..still searching but I found it...will share soon :-)