Life is difficult and throws challenges. But even in the darkest times there is hope. Joy is present at all times, we just have to recognize it. “Finding joy in the little things can be a game-changer. A smile from a stranger, a beautiful sunrise, the laughter of children, and scores of other little things bring joy to life,” write Jaya Row. We miss out on these joys because either we are too busy chasing after external objects, or preoccupied with worry and anxiety. Our mind tends to focus on something that we do not have. When our mind is focused on a future achievement, we miss enjoying what we already have. As soon as we get what we wanted, our mind shifts to something else. This goes on endlessly. As a result, we find ourselves always unhappy, miserable and agitated.
The essential prerequisite to finding joy is a calm mind, and ability to enjoy what the present moment offers. Swami Rama Tirtha said, “If you are not happy as you are, where you are, you will never be happy.” We must learn to rejoice in other people’s achievements, rather than remain stressed to earn more money to afford all the comforts and luxuries. “A calm mind thinks of higher, more fulfilling avenues. As you get anchored in the higher, you become free from lower desires. You evolve spiritually,” writes Jaya Row. (The Speaking Tree, The Times of India, June 29, 2024)
The Buddha, the greatest psychologist of our age, asks us to surrender pleasures of little worth in order secure the deep joy or the “real joy,” which is not dependent upon any object. Joys of this world are conditioned, transitory and depend upon external objects or beings. A verse in Katha Upanishad says that there is a choice to be made between Shreyas or that which is good for the soul, and Preyas, or that which is pleasing to the senses. It is that pleasure which is born from the contact of the senses with the objects, which is sweet as the waters of life in the beginning, but is like poison at the end, which the Gita (XVIII, 38), describes as rajasic pleasure. The pull of Preyas keeps us anchored to worldly life with its gross pleasures, whereas the pull of Shreyas can take us to higher planes of existence. Even those who possess all that earth life can give are dissatisfied and unhappy, because in pursuing them they lose sight of the needs of their higher nature. We have the answer in Through the Gates of Gold: “How can that which is external satisfy or even please the inner man—the thing which reigns within and has no eyes for matter, no hands for touch of objects, no senses with which to apprehend that which is outside its magic walls?”
There is happiness, or joy in appreciating the worth of suffering, going through it and learning from it. There is joy in facing difficulties, in winning over an enemy, in fighting adversities. If we look back in our lives, we find that we experienced deep joy, which came unsought, when we performed a loving deed, or in one way or another tried to promote the happiness of others. There is an eternal bond uniting all human souls, and therefore, in a sense, an individual can hope to attain the “deep joy” only when the whole of humanity has attained happiness
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This article also appeared in The Theosophical Movement. For more articles published in this excellent magazine follow this link: https://www.ultindia.org/magazines/tm.html