The Joy of the Self - Brahmananda - 8th January 2018

I have to say that most of the times when I check into myself really deeply, I discover that I'm joy, you know? And I guess this resistance is coming that I'm now supposed to let go of that, like I'm supposed to go beyond that. But what if I don't want to go beyond that? What if I am actually happy in that deep joy that I am feeling, you know?

See, joy—and you have to tell me what kind of joy. Joy is a very broad word. There is like an objective joy that you get from tasting a nice, sweet-tasting food. That's an objective joy which comes and goes. There's a joy of your own presence which is beautiful. It's not objective; it is not coming and going. So here, speaking of this joy, it doesn't have to go anywhere. In fact, it is the perfume of your presence, a natural fragrance of it. So if this is the joy that you are speaking of, no trouble. But if you're speaking of that objective joy which comes and goes with the coming and going of objects, then you already know that it is going to be coming and going, so I cannot rely on that always. But the joy of your presence is the stable one.

Being—I mean, that's when I'm feeling like I'm in a bad mood or something, and then I check into myself and I realize, no, I'm not that miserable self, I am that joy, you know? And now I guess the trouble that I'm having is that it feels like I'm kind of going against my deepest nature to say, 'No, I'm not that joy,' you know? I'm space, I'm—I don't care.

Yeah, well, the discovery here has been that as I found myself to be this unlimited being, the joy was my natural fragrance which was here. So I didn't have to hold on to it or push it away or anything like that. So if this reassures you in some way, that as you're coming to the truth about what you are, you will find that love, peace, joy—all of these are natural fragrances here. You don't have to push it aside; in fact, it is very natural. There's another kind of joy which is Brahmananda, which means that joy which does not come and go even though the states might change from waking to sleep to dream. The joy of the Self, Brahmananda, the joy of the Self which is beyond all conceptual experience.

A simple way to look at this is that when we've had enough of this experience, we want to go into this joy of sleeping. You get very frustrated if sleep is not coming. So this—but was there something in the sleep state? Was there even the tasting of like a phenomenal joy? No. So as you are discovering this truth of the Self in the waking state, you will find that these phenomenal love, peace, and joy are in service to your existence. In fact, you will find so much of it you want to cut it into pieces like a cake and distribute it; it's so beautiful. So my words are not in opposition to joy. In fact, you will find that as you're seeing yourself in your truth, all this naturally will be your fragrance, your perfume.