Part I — Talks

Joy¹

Joy without is almost an impossibility.

Joy in oneness with God is a constant certainty and an eternal reality.

Joy within is always a rarity. Most of us are living in the world of desire. We have no time to go deep within. There are people who feel that they do not have even one minute, one single minute out of twenty-four hours, to go deep within. Then, there are those who have the time to go deep within for a minute during the day. But when they go within for a minute during the twenty four hours, they may not get joy. Inside us is a vast field and we have to cultivate it like a farmer. We have to plough the inner field and, after we have ploughed, we have to sow the seed — the seed of our aspiration, the seed of our concern for the inner life. Then, after a few months or after a year or so, we may get a real glimpse of inner joy. Inner joy is always something rare. We think no matter how we meditate we get immediate joy. But this is not true. What we may get at times is only a kind of vital pleasure. Real joy we get only from our silent and profound meditation. In the outer life also, when we talk and mix with people, or exchange ideas with others, we may get a kind of satisfaction. But this is not real joy. It is only vital pleasure. Joy is something very deep, illumining and fulfilling.

When I say joy is always a rarity in the inner life, it means first of all that we are not crying for this inner joy. Once a day we don’t have the time to go deep within even for a minute. And even if we do go deep within for a minute or two, we have to know that one has to meditate for hours, for months, for years in order to get real inner joy. If one tastes this inner joy even once, one is immediately transported into Heaven for a while. When one has real inner joy, one sees that Heaven is all around him. He is in Heaven or he has become Heaven itself. This is inner joy.

In Sanskrit we use the term amrita, which means ‘nectar’. The gods drink this nectar and that is why they are immortal. When we go deep within, we also drink this divine nectar. When we drink this nectar just for a fleeting second, we feel that our consciousness is immortalised. But it is a very rare thing. Seekers don’t get this amrita unless they are on the verge of realisation. Swamis, even yogis who are not absolutely realised or not of the highest calibre, may drink this nectar only once in their lifetime. Others say, “Oh, when you go deep within, you get tremendous joy.” But real joy, amrita, is something else. This joy is pure. On those very rare occasions when we get real inner joy even for a fleeting second, it immediately expands our consciousness and makes us feel that we are really divine, that expansion is our birthright, liberation is our birthright.

In the outer world, what gives us joy is the fulfilment of desire. This moment I have a desire to have one house. Then, when God grants my desire, immediately I become a victim to the desire to have two houses. And when God grants this, the next moment I become a victim to still more desires. In the outer life we want only to grab — from one car to two cars, from one dollar to two dollars. All the time we are trying to increase our possessions. Each time a desire is fulfilled in the outer life, we become victims to a greater and more destructive desire, because in desire itself there is no end. A fulfilled desire gives us pleasure for a second, but the next moment another desire comes with tenfold power and puts us into the frying pan again. In the life of desire we are never satisfied.

The very nature of desire is to possess. If desire sees a flower, it will try to possess it. If desire sees something beautiful, immediately it wants to grab it, and the ultimate result is that the beautiful thing is destroyed. Even when we see some spiritual person with light, we try to possess that spiritual person with our desire. We don’t want that spiritual person to act in the divine way with his inner light, with his inner joy, with his inner compassion. No, we want to possess him and try to regulate his outer life and inner life.

The difference between man and God is this: man is possessed by his little possessions and God is released by His infinite possessions.

When we remain in the outer world, we are taking conscious or unconscious part in the game of desire. Each moment we are opening ourselves to desire. Desire, the thief, is entering into our heart to steal away our faith in God, our love for God, our concern for God, our dedication to God, our surrender to God. When our own will is one with desire, it eventually ends in destruction. But when our will becomes one with our aspiration — which is desire purified and transformed, desire which has gone through a fire-pure change — at that time we can sit at the Feet of God. When we sit at the Feet of God and become one with God, our own will is one with God’s Will. What is God’s Will? God’s Will is His Concern for humanity, His Love for humanity, His inner Cry for the perfection of humanity. When we establish our oneness with God’s Will, we enter into a constant flow of joy. There we see that God the creator, God the creation and God the reality are all one.

When we have established our oneness with God’s Will we get joy, but humanity as a whole is still separated from God’s Will. Every person wants something different. God has created millions and millions of people, and each one has a new idea, a new aim, a new ideal. When all the ideas and ideals become one and are still given the opportunity to flourish, to fulfil themselves in multiple form, then, too, we will get joy. The highest joy comes from oneness with God. When humanity as a whole enters into this oneness of God, we will feel that the multiplicity of God is also getting the same joy as the unity of God. We do not lose our joy if we also realise our oneness with God’s creation. The joy of multiplicity and the joy of unity we must have. When we become one with humanity and go to God together, then we get the joy of multiplicity. And when we go directly to God alone, then we get the joy of unity. Again, from unity, if we want to come to God’s infinite multiplicity, we also get true joy. Either by taking everyone to God with us or by going to God alone and then bringing God to the rest of humanity, we get this boundless inner and outer joy.

Right now the outer life and the inner life are like the North Pole and the South Pole. They will never meet together. The inner life has more light than the outer life, but this light is not enough to satisfy us. Right now the inner life is not strong enough to transform the outer life, which is like a stubborn child or even like a mad elephant. In spite of knowing that the inner life has more light, the outer life does not surrender to it. The outer life does not want to abide by the dictates of the inner life; it does not even want to co-operate with the inner life. The inner life has almost unlimited light and joy and the outer life has practically none. But a day will come when we can get joy from the outer life. When the inner life and the outer life have become one and are ready to be consciously dedicated at the Feet of God, at that time we will find joy within, joy without.

The outer life and the inner life have to become one. They have to feel the necessity of their oneness with God. The younger brother is the outer life and the elder brother is the inner life, because inside the inner life is the soul. If the inner life listens to the dictates of the soul and the outer life listens to the dictates of the inner life, then the inner life and the outer life will go together. At that time we will have abiding joy, everlasting joy, here on earth and there in Heaven — here in our outer life, which will be totally transformed, and there in our inner life, which will be constantly aspiring to be one with the infinite and ever-transcending Joy of God.