Noting deficiencies in economic metrics as measures of progress and prosperity, public policy researchers have recently begun complementing economic measures with "happiness" measures. Since 2012, the United Nations along with allied research institutions have produced the World Happiness Report (WHR), which explains this new science of happiness and how it can benefit policy making. With reference to the WHR, this is the slide deck complementing a paper that recommends classifying reported happiness according to a tripartite taxonomy of sattvam-rajas-tamas, or the three modes of material nature (goodness, passion, ignorance), in order to produce better policy outcomes. The idea presented is that the self-reported happiness score of a sober, health-conscious person and a drug-addict are qualitatively not the same, and hence Vedic scriptures like Bhagavad-gita put forward behavioral and psychological characteristics associated with these modes and which lend themselves to better classification and more outcomes. The paper this slide deck goes with is to be published by the Jawarhalal Nehru Unversity's Special Center of Sanskrit Studies for the 2016 International Veda Conference, titled "Veda as Global Heritage: Scientific Perspectives" "वैश्विक धरोहर वेद : वैज्ञानिक आयाम". Website: http://sanskrit.jnu.ac.in/conf/ivc/index.jsp

1. The Three Modes of Material
Nature (Tri-Guṇa)
As a Basis for Public Policy
Christopher Shannon, MS Statistics
http://samprajna.org
Email: krishnakirti@gmail.com
Presented on 16 December 2016 at the
International Veda Conference – Jawaharlal Nehru University

2. The World Happiness Report (WHR)
• WHR summarizes the “state of happiness in the today and show how
the new science of happiness explains personal and national
variations in happiness” (WHR 2012).
• Why happiness? “Higher average incomes do not necessarily improve
average well-being, the U.S. being a clear case in point. . . . U.S. GNP
per capita has risen by a factor of three since 1960, while measures of
average happiness have remained essentially unchanged over the
half-century.”
• Why happiness is important? (1) reducing overconsumption, (2)
better use of shrinking resources, and (3) improving public policy.

3. How is happiness measured in WHR?
• Main analysis of happiness is
based on individual life
evaluations.
• Response variable: The Cantril
Ladder question: “Please
imagine a ladder, with steps
numbered from 0 at the bottom
to 10 at the top. The top of the
ladder represents the best
possible life for you and the
bottom of the ladder represents
the worst possible life for you.
On which step of the ladder
would you say you personally
feel you stand at this time?”
Six key factors for predicting the
Cantril Ladder score:
• GDP per capita
• Social support
• Healthy life expectancy
• Social freedom
• Generosity
• Absence of corruption

4. True Happiness
• Veda (वेद): Knowledge, comes from the dhatu ववद्, from which we get
ववद्या and अववद्या. From Gita 13.11:
• John Stuart Mill: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a
pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
And if the fool, or the pig, are a different opinion, it is because they
only know their own side of the question. The other party to the
comparison knows both sides.”
• The big idea: there is such a thing as objective happiness, which we
can know and measure but cannot discover by science alone.

5. Happiness under the three guṇas
• Sattva-guṇa: That which in the beginning may be just like poison but
at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization
is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness (18.37).
• Rajo-guṇa: That happiness which is derived from contact of the
senses with their objects and which appears like nectar at first but
poison at the end is said to be of the nature of passion (18.38).
• Tamo-guṇa: And that happiness which is blind to self-realization,
which is delusion from beginning to end and which arises from sleep,
laziness and illusion is said to be of the nature of ignorance (18.39).

6. Case Study: Guṇas, Marriage, and Public Policy
(APA) “Happy Couples: How to keep your
relationship healthy”:
• To keep things interesting, some
couples plan regular date nights. Even
dates can get old, though, if you're
always renting a movie or going to the
same restaurant. Experts recommend
breaking out of the routine and trying
new things — whether that's going
dancing, taking a class together or
packing an afternoon picnic.
• Intimacy is also a critical component of
romantic relationships. Some busy
couples find it helpful to schedule sex
by putting it on the calendar. It may not
be spontaneous to have it written in
red ink, but setting aside time for an
intimate encounter helps ensure that
your physical and emotional needs are
met.

7. Guṇa metrics: Foods
• Sattvic: increases duration of life, purifying, strengthens, and
improves health, happiness and satisfaction. Also juicy, fatty,
wholesome (Gita 17.8)
• Rajasic: too bitter, too sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry and burning are
dear to those in the mode of passion. Such foods cause distress,
misery and disease (17.9)
• Tamasic: Food prepared more than three hours before being eaten,
food that is tasteless, decomposed and putrid, and food consisting of
remnants and untouchable things (17.10).

8. Guṇa metrics: Workplace habits
• Sattvic: Performs duty without association with the modes of material
nature, without false ego, with great determination and enthusiasm,
and without wavering in success or failure is said to be a worker in the
mode of goodness (Gita 18.26)
• Rajasic: Is attached to work and the fruits of work, desiring to enjoy
those fruits, is greedy, always envious, impure, and moved by joy and
sorrow (18.27)
• Tamasic: The worker who is always engaged in work against the
injunctions of the scripture, who is materialistic, obstinate, cheating
and expert in insulting others, and who is lazy, always morose and
procrastinating (18.28).

9. Guṇa metrics: Motivations
Example: Different motivations for truthfulness.
• Sattvic: being truthful because it ought to be done and not expecting
any reward (Gita 17.17)
• Rajasic: being truthful out of pride or for the sake of gaining respect,
honor and worship (Gita 17.18).
• Tamasic: performed out of foolishness, with self-torture or to destroy
or injure others (Gita 17.19).
Note: Max Weber’s example of Benjamin Franklin’s maxim on
truthfulness in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a case
of rajo-guṇa.

11. Some Statistical Findings
Developed World vs. Others - No Difference Detected (Tukey-Kramer Test)
Group 1 Varname Group 2 Difference p-Value
Developed World
Confidence NGov
Bottom Rung -0.016 1.000
Hardscrabble and Hopeful -0.085 0.546
Middle of the Road -0.052 0.805
Optimists -0.101 0.278
Upwardly Mobile and Anxious -0.043 0.883
Generosity
Bottom Rung 0.103 0.301
Hardscrabble and Hopeful 0.059 0.685
Optimists 0.054 0.711
Gini Gallup HH Income
Middle of the Road -0.037 0.163
Upwardly Mobile and Anxious -0.029 0.336
Gini WB Avg
Middle of the Road -0.044 0.250
Upwardly Mobile and Anxious -0.044 0.214
Negative Affect
Bottom Rung -0.029 0.841
Hardscrabble and Hopeful -0.020 0.914
Middle of the Road -0.022 0.749
Optimists -0.001 1.000
Sd Ladder Cty Yr
Bottom Rung -0.135 0.795
Hardscrabble and Hopeful -0.095 0.873
Middle of the Road -0.187 0.085
Optimists -0.022 1.000
Results of Linear Discriminant Analysis
Variable name
Partial F-
test Lambda p-Value Rejects Null Hyp.
HLE (Healthy Life Expectancy at
Birth) 1047.848 0.029 0.00E+00 Y
Delivery Quality 89.752 0.262 0.00E+00 Y
Log GDP (per-capita) 88.773 0.264 0.00E+00 Y
Life Ladder 60.423 0.345 0.00E+00 Y
Democrtic Quality 37.086 0.462 0.00E+00 Y
Social Support 24.331 0.567 0.00E+00 Y
Gini Gallup Household Income 23.876 0.571 0.00E+00 Y
Stddev Mean Ladder Country Year 22.727 0.583 0.00E+00 Y
Freedom of Life Choice 8.626 0.787 2.97E-07 Y
Perceptions of Corruption 6.422 0.832 1.83E-05 Y
Positive Affect 5.845 0.845 5.51E-05 Y
Generosity 5.106 0.862 2.27E-04 Y
Gini World Bank Average 3.774 0.894 2.95E-03 Y
Stddev Ladder by Country Year 2.931 0.916 1.47E-02 Y
Negative Affect 2.111 0.938 6.68E-02 N
Confidence in National
Government 1.158 0.965 3.32E-01 N
Hypothesis degrees freedom: 5.000
Error degrees freedom: 159.000
F-test critical value F(0.95, 5,159): 2.271
Table 3: Results of LDA. Variables sorted by order of importance.

12. Diversity?
Vedic perspective in public policy missing by its absence.
• 2016 report (Special Rome Edition) contains Civilization-specific
perspectives:
• Chapter 2: Human Flourishing, the Common Good, and Catholic Social
Teaching (Anthony Annett)
• Chapter 3: The Challenges of Public Happiness: An Historical-Methodological
Reconstruction (Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zemagni)
• [From the blurb:] "The central idea of this paper, drawn from Aristotle, is that there is an
intrinsic value in relational and civil life, without which human life does not fully
flourish."
If the World Happiness Report considers ideas from Roman Catholicism
and Aristotle, why not also from the Vedic tradition?

13. Please support
1. Policy makers and allied institutions should sponsor the research
and development of new metrics based on the Vedic conception of
“the good life”.
2. The Vedic framework of the three guṇas should be explored and
developed with a view towards providing a useful guide for
scientists and policy makers to leverage Vedic knowledge.
3. Researchers should explore how traditional techniques of statistical
inference along with newer machine-learning approaches can be
used to refine and integrate Vedic insights regarding happiness with
the insights derived from other fields.

14. References
• Helliwell, J. "World Happiness Report 2012 [Electronic
resource]." The Earth Institute.—2012.—Available at:
www/URL: http://worldhappiness. report/wp-
content/uploads/sites/2/2012/04/World_Happiness_Report_201
2. pdf.
• U.S. Census: “Measuring childbearing patterns in the United States”,
<https://www.census.gov/newsroom/cspan/childbearing/20120817_
cspan_childbearing_slides.pdf>.
• "Happy Couples: How to keep your relationship healthy“, American
Psychological Association, 15 Dec. 2016
<http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/healthy-relationships.aspx>.