HOW TO HAVE JOY OUT OF LIFE - 2

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HOW TO HAVE JOY OUT OF LIFE - 2

 

The third man in the story avoided the two extremes. He did not embrace pleasure

to the exclusion of everything else. He did not cut himself off from the world

realizing that where there is no battle, there can be no victory. He devoted

his life to duty, - the duty of his daily task, the duty he owed to his family,

his community, to humanity and to brother birds and animals. For he realised

that creation is one family. Birds and animals are man’s younger brothers and

sisters in the one family of creation.

 

He did his duty by everyone. He gave his love to everyone. He loved God and he

loved every child of God. He loved, also, trees and flowers, rivers and rocks,

stars and streams. He loved birds and animals, ants and insects. And he had the

true joy of life. He made the great discovery that when your heart is full of

love, your life is full of joy.

 

He did not turn away from pleasures: he enjoyed as many simple pleasures as his

life would allow. And every day, he spent some time in silence, in solitude. He

went apart from men and, in silence, communed with the Wonder of the Ages, the

Wonder that is radiant in the sun, the moon, the stars, in every atom and in

the atman within. Every day, he spent sometime in silence and sought to

understand the meaning of the mystery of the endless adventure of existence.

 

Thus he lived, and when he was about to pass away, he said: “I die a happy man!”

Those that were around him said: “He was truly a happy man!”

 

The lesson is so obvious that it is superfluous to emphasise it. Yet men and

women the world over have failed to take the lesson to heart. Some restlessness

pursue unsatisfying pleasures: others, disillusioned by life, seek comfort in

solitude. Very few tread the path between the two extremes, devoting their

lives to a noble aim, a great ideal.

-to be continued

(Written by: J P Vaswani)

 

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya…

 

Come health, come sickness,

Come grief, come pain,

With God enthroned within my heart,

No ill can lay me low!

 

All things pass.

As a dream they come,

As a dream they go!

 

I dwell in deathless joy,

And I have no fear:

For I abide in Him,

And His immortal touch is on my soul!

 

 

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