56. Sorrow appearing asure.🔗

One person asked Vivekananda sarcastically regarding Guru-bhakthi, devotion towards the Master: Why it is that disciples are so submissive towards the Master? What sort of slavery is this?

Vivekananda said without any hesitation: If you don't wish to be submissive to the Master become slaves for your senses.

❖ Man has entangled himself within his senses. Meditation, wisdom, devotion are effective methods which release him from these entanglements. ❖ All things which give joy that fades over a period of time or saturates one are all pleasures of short durations only. ❖ The one that gives joy is bliss. The one that destroys joy is petty pleasures. ❖ The mind will like petty pleasures very much. The reason is that if the mind takes bliss just once, that is enough, mind will get destroyed. For its own self-defense, the mind will drive and ask man to enjoy, only by showing petty pleasures. ❖ So, experience and enjoy what all you wish to enjoy - satisfaction and real joy. At least after that, understand that they will not give you satisfaction and bliss.

It seems two friends were talking about a third person in this manner:

Friend 1: Who got the Pongal (Harvest festival) bumper prize of ten lakhs (10 million)? Is it this man?

Friend 2: Yes, Why do you ask?

Friend 1: Why is he sitting like this as if his ship has sunk? Should he not be very happy...?

Friend 2: Oh! Don't you know that? He did not get even one rupee for the other lottery ticket he bought for which the prize amount was one crore (1 billion) rupees.

For the sake of very great expectations, do not punish life which is a child adorned with small pleasures.

The person who goes beyond expectations, and lives by experiencing everything deeply and totally will get happily drowned in bliss even with small incidents. If a person does not know to live in such a manner, even very big happenings will only take him to petty pleasures.

Pleasure is the one which is not dependent on outside things. It is concerned with ones' inner feelings.

People have understood pleasure as a thing related to outside objects only. These only are petty and small or rather inferior pleasures.

For the doubt whether the petty pleasures are right or wrong, so far no enlightened Master has decisively said it is either right or wrong.

On the other hand, they only say that these are not necessary and we can go beyond it.

The enlightened Masters strive only to insist on the truth. When already in possession of gems, why search for ordinary pebbles. Even after accumulating pebbles with great difficulty and carrying sack after sack of pebbles, it finally results in back-pain only.

Even the comfort and happiness that we get due to the petty pleasures are not true or real ones.

For such comforts which appear within us, certainly no person or object which exists outside is a reason for that.

It is not at all possible for an external object to create happiness inside us.

A nice story told by a great enlightened Master to easily understand petty pleasures.

A dog was wandering here and there unable to bear its hunger. The dog did not know any aim other than: It is enough if I get some thing - my hunger should be satisfied. That is all.

The dog, which was wandering hungrily, became happy on the way, as if it got a gift. It saw at a distance a bone which was thin and dry.

Hungrily, the dog jumped and seized the bone quickly.

As the hunger hid the sight and feelings, the dog began biting the dry bone demonically.

As the dog was concentrating on the struggle of eating the bone, the dog did not realize the continuous pricking of the bones in its jaws or the pain caused by this.

After some time, as the bone pricked again and again the wounds became bigger and wider and blood began to drip out from the inside of its jaw.

Poor dog! As it started to believe that the blood was indeed coming only from the bone, its joy knew no bounds. It was biting the bone to the maximum extent possible.

There was more and more blood as it went on biting the bone. But, the dog felt at that moment, 'The more the biting, the more the pleasure.' It also appeared for that moment that its hunger also got satisfied!

After some time, the dog started feeling new pain and irritation in its jaws.

Then that dog thought: What is this new trouble?

It was only its own blood which gave it the 'pleasure of taste'. But what about the one that gave it the pain? Till the end, what was the use of the bone for the dog, except that it was biting it for a few minutes!

The beginning as well as the end of petty pleasures will be similar to how the dog felt before and after biting the bone. That is why the enlightened Masters say that petty pleasures are not necessary.

When man experiences joy for a few seconds in petty pleasures it is not due to external objects. It is the inherent continuous bliss in man that surfaces for those few seconds when he experiences pleasures.

Man struggles without knowing the goal for his birth which is the desire to drink the bliss by drowning in the ocean of bliss which is present within his own self. The result is that he continuously struggles. He searches for various opportunities. He doesn't get even a few. Even if he gets an opportunity he does not experience satisfaction from it.

It is only on account of the dissatisfaction; man like the fire-fly gets caught in the net of petty pleasures again and again.

The reason why Masters say that it is easy to go beyond petty pleasures is that these pleasures, along with it, also, give great sufferings. The next bad thing is that many get caught in the petty pleasures and lose the wonders of life. In the same way as the dog, believes the blood is coming from the bone, man thinks that petty pleasures give joy. And that is how he gets trapped.

Before the vast ocean of bliss given as a gift to us by God, petty pleasures are smaller than ordinary pebbles.

Bliss is the gem given by God. Petty pleasure is the pebble given by God.

Leaving aside the gem, we have created a society which trades in Rasi stones (prescribing different types of stones for different zodiac signs, based on astrology), while keeping the pebbles in tact. Are we not living in such a way?

A pebble? Or a gem? Which one is needed? Both are possible. Decide for yourself.

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A story told by the Sufi master to explain about petty pleasures:

A man, who was staggering with severe thirst, sighted a jar full of water. After he drank it off quickly, his thirst grew further.

Reason: It was salt water!

Your thirst for bliss is deep rooted. Small and petty pleasures will only induce some more thirst.

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❖ Can fire be put out by pouring petrol? ❖ Will the frenzy over the sweet lessen or increase by eating ten laddus (Indian sweet)? ❖ By continuously watching, studying poems which are far from reality and are only imaginary, can day dreams be fulfilled? If the answer for all the above is 'Yes', then all the world celebrations will give you satisfaction and peace. If it is otherwise, it is certain that you will not get satisfaction from the objects of the outer world.

You go to various places, do different things.

Whatever you do, have you observed that peace is going farther and farther away from you?

If the quality of experiencing does not increase even if the luxuries increase, peace or joy cannot be experienced.

On the contrary, only lack of peace will increase. Take stock of the small pleasures for extinguishing the fire of dissatisfaction.

You will understand the play of life.

Some tips for taking stock of the sorrows: ❖ What are all the things that are dear to you? It is only because you have not fully passed beyond these, they find place in your top ten lists. ❖ What are the happy incidents, which you recollect and cherish in your mind again and again? These are the indications to show that the mind has learnt the art of cud-chewing. Today, you say that cud-chewing is a pleasure. Tomorrow, you are going to call whatever the same mind is going to cud-chew as sorrow. You will say: These are the thoughts which torture me. ❖ This act of cud-chewing of the mind which is unable to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong must be corrected. ◦ What are all the thoughts that really bother you? ◦ What are all the things which you don't like at all?

The reasons for your sorrows lie hidden in these four questions. Write down the replies in a note-book. While writing, do it with sincerity and honesty. The very awareness regarding your likes and dislikes would give you a clear description of yourself.

When you put this down on paper it will act as a chisel to mould you and you will be able to understand yourself better and it will help you to transcend sorrow.

If you take stock of all this today it will lay the foundation for a blissful life.

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