Relative Joy

I sometimes wonder if people are happy with what they do. One sees people whose real passion are the arts working as a receptionist, absolutely frustrated for the way their life has worked out. One then considers if one is happy, making conclusions if the accomplishments were a satisfaction or if one is a frustrated engineer working as a taxi driver. In a way, each day is an opportunity to change the vicious cycle we live in, to think out of the box and have a breakthrough with joy. Krishna has an interesting way of explaining why joy is so relative. “The joy that is passionate at first seems like ambrosia when senses encounter sense objects, but in the end it is like poison.” (18, 38) Our passion for the material obscures the mental and spiritual, our hunger to emulate our neighbor is the cause of the demise of our inner peace, our innate tendency to look for the newest gadget, clothes etc. and our judgement on others for what they own or are economically able to get is the basis of our hypocrital, plastic relationships. Cultivating deeper, more soulful connections by sharing activities that stimulate creativity, service, culture and just plain fun.

When doing something that isn’t of my interest I tend to procrastinate and for the time I do I feel pretty good, I try to convince myself that I have more than enough time to finish my work. I usually enjoy the time being but when the due date starts coming I get off the train of procrastination and rapidly get on to nervousness speedway. “The joy arising from sleep, laziness, and negligence, self-deluding from beginning to end, is said to be darkly inert.” (18, 39) Krishna and this clear definition of a day to day process gives us the key to act out, act different and do it now! Most of the time it’s not the work itself what really matters is our personal, unique approach/ our sacred focus…the same goes for our life.