By AiR – Atman in Ravi: Happiness Ambassador, Author, Spiritual Mentor and Philanthropist
How can we strike a balance between material desires and spiritual growth for a long-lasting happiness? If we can find a way to go to the North Pole and the South Pole at the same time, we surely can strike a balance because material desires is like going towards the South Pole and spiritual progress is like progressing towards the North Pole. Material desires will give you peer and pleasure, while Spiritual evolution will give you Peace, Bliss and Joy that forever flows, unlike the momentary pleasure that comes and goes. Therefore, we have to understand that both are polar opposites. One can’t try to balance both because they work in opposing directions with opposing forces. We have to make up our mind to go towards either one pole.
The first peak of happiness is pleasure. Pleasure comes from achievement. In the pleasure that comes from achievement, you need success, desires, passion, the ego must be driven and the mind must be busy but then, you will face stress and anxiety. There will be fear, worry and depression but that is the by-product of success that gives pleasure. On the contrary, if we are seeking Spirituality, we must still the mind and decide that we don’t want to take the path of pleasure. Rather, we must choose to want Peace and discovering the Purpose of our existence. We would want to find out – ‘Who am I and why am I here?’ When there is happiness of the body and mind, we use our sense of gratification to feel happy. We want to become happy but in Spirituality, you don’t become happy, you learn the art of being happy. How? When you are liberated from the triple suffering of the body, mind and ego.
With success, you face the Seven Monsters of the Mind – Fear, Worry, Stress, Anxiety, Regret, Shame and Guilt. These monsters lead to Depression. With success and pleasure, you face the Seven Monsters of the Ego – Anger, Hatred, Revenge, Jealousy, Pride and Selfishness. These monsters lead to Aggression and with this deadly combination of aggression and depression, one can never have Eternal Happiness.
But if you choose to take the journey towards the North, if you take the inner voyage and if you let go of the pleasure, which gives you only momentary happiness or an ephemeral joy, you will reach a state of SatChitAnanda. Sat-Chit -Ananda is that state of Eternal Bliss that comes with Truth Consciousness. In this state, one overcomes all the fourteen monsters of the mind and the ego and experiences a state of Eternal Peace. Peace is the foundation of happiness. You don’t run after things that give you pleasure because that pleasure will not last forever but you take the journey, the inner voyage and reach the state of Consciousness, in which you feel the Divine Bliss. You still the monkey mind that jumps from yesterday to tomorrow, creating misery and sorrow. You go beyond the ego that is agitated with anger, hate and you reach a new gate, when you have an Enlightened Ego.
But this is the complete opposite of success and achievement. This is not like the material happiness, an ephemeral joy that comes and goes. Therefore, you don’t have to balance a Spiritual life and a material life. You can’t! If you want to be happy from a material life, choose that but be ready to face all the trials and tribulations of life. On the other hand, if you choose the journey of Spirituality, you can expect Divinity, Peace, Bliss and Joy, along with knowing the purpose of your life. You will learn the art of acceptance without protest. You will understand Karma and learn how to surrender. Then, you will say, ‘Whatever will be, will be.’
So, decide if you want to go towards the North pole and reach that state of Eternal Bliss in Truth Consciousness or you want to go towards the South, enjoy pleasure and pain, loss and gain, sun and rain, again and again. It’s your choice but don’t try to balance it because you can’t! It is simple. Material life and Spiritual life are like the two ends in a game of see-saw. You can’t have both sides on the top. If one side is up, the other side goes down. So is material and Spiritual life.
Remember! Material life can give you only momentary pleasure because money can’t buy Eternal Peace. Success and happiness will come and go, if you are pursuing the material world. But if you are pursuing the Spiritual world, you can be liberated from all misery and sorrow, as you live in the present moment with joy and not shuttle between yesterday and tomorrow. Therefore, you have to make a choice and it is in your hands to choose – Whether you want to have a life filled with pleasure that brings momentary happiness or you want a life with Eternal Peace, Divine Love and Everlasting Bliss!
