Achieve Joyfulness by Directing Desire to God
All in the family should live cheerfully and joyfully. We should have such a disposition that whoever desires joy and cheer should hasten to us. Distributing largesse may impoverish the donor or may not suffice the recipient's need; cheerfulness of disposition, on the other hand, is a fund that is inexhaustible.
Life has its origin in God, Who is all bliss; so life should really be endlessly blissful. It is only acquirable, however, when the 'body-am-I' conviction dies. Bliss, being natural, is easy to acquire; it only needs that we, too, become simple, that is, free of 'conditioning' or upadhi, which has weighed us down. Everybody is in search of bliss; so learn to be joyful in all circumstances. Bliss is basically ever-lasting, but we seek it in sense objects, which are transitory, and therefore we fail to find true, lasting bliss. A pustule of scabies causes itching; the scratching gives a kind of pleasure but draws blood and causes irritation; does the pleasure justify the scratching? A dog chews a bone, under the impression that he is tasting the marrow; but he is actually tasting his own blood from his mouth, some of the blood actually falls on the ground and is lost to his body, but he does not let go the bone. The joy obtained from sense-pleasures is exactly similar. God manifests Himself in the bliss that comes without the help of any material thing.
If a man withdraws his desire from the material world and turns it to God, he experiences nothing but bliss. Desire is like fire. Fire helps to give us fresh, tasty, warm food; but, applied to a house, it can burn the entire edifice to ashes. Similarly, desire turned to God can make a man blissful; whereas, if applied to sensual pleasures, it lands him into misery and grief. Desire offers varying sensuous enticement to us every day; or, rather, the pleasures are not new, it is the desire that renews itself. Desire, which is synonymous with pride or ego, is the archenemy of man, and effectively obscures divine bliss; it deprives the human mind of contentment. Even when man understands this, desire is so overpowering that it haunts and continues to lure man, to his last breath. There is nothing to equal the effectiveness of nama in vanquishing desire. When desire ends, what remains is sheer bliss.
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