Simple Factors of Joy

Leaving aside the metaphysical flights of the Advaita, let us consider the practical side of it. Every human being has a deep- rooted desire to be peaceful and happy and to avoid pain. Peace and happiness are not negative qualities; they are positive achievements. You have to pursue them daily and in all seriousness or they will leave you dry.

Our peace and happiness must be creative. An artist finds peace in the creation of art forms which cause tranquillity of mind to others, and finds satisfaction in their appreciation. Happiness is not a gift of nature; it is to be achieved. Individual sense-satisfaction produced by a good meal, deep sleep or listening to music is a poor sort of happiness on account of its temporary character and its individual and narrow range. Our material wants must be satisfied, but they are not the end in themselves. Petrol is poured into the tank of a machine so that the combustion may bring the machine to a desired end. Our experiments with joy of various kinds are ultimately meant to prepare our mind for higher creations of peace and beauty and to satisfy our hunger for Truth.

We are social beings. We must not expect to be happy and peaceful without contributing to the peace and happiness of those amongst whom we live. Happiness is a group achievement. This is an important point to be kept in view. How can there be peace for a normal man if his mother is delirious with fever, his father lies ill with consumption or his wife suffers from insomnia? There is great happiness in the efforts one makes to relieve the sufferings of neighbours and to cause joy to little children. Justice is a great factor in happiness-production and yet another is sympathy or compassion. A hard, feelingless heart is a barren wilderness in which no fruit trees of peace and contentment will grow.

Happiness is a mode of the mind. It does not exist in any object. It is the nature of the soul. But as long as our mind is in the grip of passions and wrong ideas, the self will not express happiness and peace. Mental darkness must be met and enlightened and not suppressed. Freud has exposed the great value of truth and the evils of insincerity and hypocrisy. Man in his normal state wants to be acceptable and to give devotion to somebody. To love and be loved is natural. Our happiness and peace depend on the nature of the persons to whom we give devotion and from whom we receive love. Passionate, narrow-minded and conceited, fanatical persons can be the object of pity but not of love. ‘I will love you if you do what I tell you’ is the motto of a slave driver, and not of a rational and free man.

We must give devotion to somebody or to some object. Nature endows us with a surplus of energy which we can employ for the development of our soul, for acquiring knowledge of philosophy and science, meditation and contemplation of God in our own being. We can dissipate our surplus energy in trivial pleasures or fanaticism, patriotism and love of power. But there is a great and real joy in store for one who becomes a devotee, pursues a great ideal, relieves human misery and reduces egoism.

Life is like a book which has many blank pages. You cannot and need not alter your stature, the colour of your skin, your response to the climate, but you can alter your view of the world and give up material tendencies. You can improve your appreciation of beauty and love of Truth. There is always room in your soul for benevolence and self-sacrifice. These are the real sources of joy which enrich the soul. We need tranquil joys and not those which are the outcome of excitement. The joys which we create and which we can share with others to their moral advantage, are praiseworthy.

Hari Prasad Shastri