12. Formula for Joy
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How many times have we experienced victory that tastes flat? There is no more fizzle or joy in our victory.
Why does it happen so? There is a deep rooted reason for this. Often, without being aware of it, we are on a run to fulfill our ego. We run to achieve something but once we achieve it, we feel like fools because it gives us no fulfillment.
Ask a cross section of youth about goals in life, they will say that they want to achieve so many things and it is possible only in a foreign country.
If we look at people who came to foreign country, they all seem to have a similar formula. They have an agenda, list of things to achieve and they give themselves, some time, say 20 years to accomplish it. By God's grace, they achieve everything within 8 years. Now, in spite of all the achievements, they feel a deep void, a restless, and a dissatisfaction within them.
Understand this: we have achieved 'what' we wanted to achieve. We are clueless about why the 'what for' aspect.
We begin to backtrack and think, 'why did I think I wanted these things?' The reason we want to achieve these, we realize that was for joy and bliss. That bliss has not been achieved yet. It proves to be elusive. Our formula, though caused us lot of troubles, at its best provided temporary joy. It is mostly the joy of acquisition.
As we become more aware, we realize that the joy of acquisition is a bottomless pit. Once an acquisition is accomplished, another project has to be in place to keep the adrenalin flowing. When we fail to do this, we experience depression.
Consider what we are missing with this attitude. We don't desire to experience happiness by enjoying whatever has been acquired. We have set ourselves in a no-win situation. We have programmed ourselves to acquire and acquire, but missed the key components: meaning for acquisition and the joy of it. Our life is filled with acquisitions that have neither meaning nor joy.
This causes depression of success: the empty feeling that arises even after we have achieved success.
Be clear! All that we do in the outer world is the lifestyle. It is not life. It is imposed by society. We find the purpose of our life only by connecting deeply with our being. Travel inward, deep within, to find joy. That is the only formula for everlasting joy.