The journey could be joyful but when we get stuck or distracted on the
way, we miss the ultimate goal, which is what we are all
searching for in our own way.

(Page 2 of 7)

IT IS AS IF A JUGGLER IS ENTERTAINING on the wayside and we join the mob to look at the tricks he’s playing, which is enjoyable. We get involved and forget where we were going. When we remember this, we start the journey again. With a juggler, that might be after minutes or hours, but in life’s journey it is not that easy to disengage. It may take years, decades or even lifetimes to get out of even one involvement and continue our journey again.
      What does it imply? We miss what we are searching for by getting serious where we shouldn’t be serious. Many misunderstand this to mean we should not pay attention to anything in the world. That is not the issue. On the contrary, those who do not learn to pay attention to things in the world cannot pay attention in spiritual matters either. The exceptions are those who are ascetic or renunciates, but the other ninety-nine percent have to pay attention. How we learn to do this is different for each one.
      Everyone is seeking joy or peace or satisfaction in life. We want to be educated, be healthy, to have a family, a home, a conveyance and other things to feel happiness and satisfaction. Or if we seek some high pursuits, we do that to feel better, to know better, to be better. So enlightenment ultimately joins with every pursuit. The idea: “I want this” or “I want to do this” implies that we want these for our happiness or satisfaction, for some kind of gratification. That gives us pleasure. It may not stay with us, but the inner aim is that. We are seeking that same goal through each and every thing we do except that we get very serious about things that are impermanent.
 

      We have heard a thousand times that things of the world are transitory, which the Vedas call illusion. But even then I would pose a question: What is wrong with that? That is the way nature is made. The problem is that if our joy is dependent upon the transitory, it does not last. If joy, peace and happiness could be obtained from things outside of us, there would be nothing wrong with being serious about such things. It is precisely because happiness does not stay with us that we keep trying to find it. This is a blessing of the Lord that the things of this world are transitory so that we cannot get permanently stuck to them. It is not wrong to get pleasure or joy out of something but we must remember that it does not stay with us.

T
HIS SHIFTING VALUATION of the gratifications we seek is only because of the seriousness we have given to these things, not because they are impermanent. Therefore we should not condemn or abuse things of this world or the creation itself. Our problem is that we are applying the mentality of the Iron Age to the bounties of God’s creation. Even if you don’t bring in God, you have created something; you are living in a certain way according to your choices. If we could just bring our minds out from the ruts where we are stuck, we might place our concentration and focus where it should be. Is it a matter of practice? Maybe. But before practice I always feel the necessity of using my own will. If you will to do this way, practice will follow. If you do not change your will but only practice, you will not have much result. Seeking the highest goal is ultimately the most beneficial.

 


Teaching from the basis of eternal Truth, the message of Swami Amar Jyoti's Satsangs (Sanskrit: communion with Truth) is one of deep spiritual unity.  His way is not to espouse a particular creed but to impart a spiritual way of life.   He spent four decades (from 1961-2001) awakening and uplifting countless souls around the world to God-consciousness and disseminating the timeless Truth underlying all traditions and faiths.  Prabhushri Swamiji authored several books; over seven hundred of His oral discourses, illuminating the classical path for modern times, are available on CD and audiocassette.



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