Our belief that the source of joy is material objects is full of illusion. If this belief were to be true all material pleasures would have given satiation to all mankind in an equal manner. Or else all of mankind would have attained eternal joy without a speck of sorrow by now. Today all over the world we find people who have amassed plenty of wealth and grandeur and yet their lives are full of despair, agony and hopelessness. These material objects (TV, computer, cars, aircrafts, AC, movies etc) do not help in alleviating their pain and sorrow in a permanent manner.
The fact remains that all material objects are inert. Thus inert is after all inert. It has no potential of its own. On their own inert objects are incapable of giving us both, joy or anguish. Material objects lack the potential of joy and sorrow since they are inanimate. Thus they cannot induce sorrow or joy in us on their own. When we contact material objects with our sense organs, our mind gets attached to them which in turn induce joy or pain as the case maybe. Thus it is our mind/psyche, a conscious entity that manifests joy and pain in our inner self.
When man’s joyous soul contacts a sense object the object seems desirable and when a sorrowful soul contacts that object the object seems undesirable. All worldly objects are inert and hence by themselves cannot induce joy/sorrow in our psyche. It is man’s soul principle which contacts inert objects so as to label them as ‘joy’ or ‘sorrow’. THE BELIEF THAT ETERNAL JOY CAN BE ATTAINED VIA MATERIAL OBJECTS IS NOTHING BUT AN ILLUSION AND AN EXERCISE IN SHEER FUTILITY.
The sad part of life is that man under the spell of spiritual ignorance refuses to accept that sense pleasures can give only transient joy and never eternal, infinite peace. Thus without realizing that it is an exercise in futility he hunts for joy day in and day out in material pursuits. He wastes his precious human life in amassing material wealth with the illusion that he will find eternal contentment and bliss. This is because he erroneously imagines that joy is in the object (TV, house, car etc) when in reality it is in his own soul. Thus while amassing material wealth he stoops as low as carrying out criminal, illegal and heinous acts which ultimately create his downfall. JOY LIES IN ONES SOUL AND NOT MATERIAL PLEASURES. JOY SHOULD BE SEARCHED FOR IN ONES SOUL AND NOT IN EXTERNAL MATERIAL OBJECTS, RELATIVES, PROFESSIONS ETC.
Material objects are enjoyed via the 5 sense organs viz. eyes, ears, tongue, skin and nose. It is only when are organs are active can we enjoy sight, smell etc. As long as man is youthful his sense organs are active and agile. During this youthful phase of his life he can fully enjoy sense pleasures but the more his body ages these very objects become distasteful and inconsequential. Suddenly an old person finds that all his pleasures attained via sense enjoyments have dried up to naught. The fact remains that when old age sets in our 5 sense organs become weak and thus are unable to enjoy those sense pleasures enjoyed in youth. These aged sense organs lose the capacity to enjoy sense pleasures. It is this weak potential of the sense organs that induce lifelessness and a sense of distaste for sense pleasures in ones old age.
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