The Good and The Pleasant
The
good is one thing and the pleasant is another. They have different
aims, and they drag a person from different directions. Of these two, he who
chooses the good obtains blessedness, but he who chooses the pleasant falls
from his aim. The good is that which leads one to God or the Absolute. It gives
the freedom of Moksha or liberation from Samsara. It is not pleasant, because
it is against body-consciousness. It destroys what is pleasant and, hence, is
rather painful. The pleasant, on the other hand, is intimately connected with
the body, and prevents a person from choosing the good. One falls down from
one's aim if one chooses the pleasant, because one shall never be able to
possess the pleasant objects for ever, and, also, these objects are false
appearances and not real existences. All pleasant things shall vanish, and only
the good shall remain. One cannot pursue the good and the pleasant at the same
time, even as light and darkness cannot be perceived in the same place. One who
chooses the good should reject the pleasant and take refuge in the supermundane
Truth, though it is invisible. The good does not come quickly, though the
pleasant may do so. The Real is the unseen. One who pursues the Real attains
the blessed state of eternity, but that short-sighted and dull-witted person
who pursues the pleasant is separated from the objects of his desire, and he
shall mourn for their death and take birth for their sake.
Both the good and the pleasant
come to a person. But the wise man discriminates between the two. The wise one
prefers the good to the pleasant, and the stupid one chooses the pleasant, for
the sake of protecting and fattening the body and ego. All run after the
pleasant alone and not after the good, because the pleasant is connected with
the present limited life. The good is not longed for, because it is
transempirical. The good and the pleasant are opposite to each other, like the
two poles. One cuts the tree of Samsara, and the other waters it. Those who
justify sense-enjoyments are blind men guided by blind philosophies and they
fall into deep pits. All enjoyment is mere friction of nerves. It does not
merely bring pain but is the very form of misery itself. A sensation cannot be
called bliss, and all worldly experiences are sensations. Those who believe in
the reality of this present world alone and do not care for the existence of
another plane of life get attached to this world, and, thus, have to experience
births and deaths, incessantly.
Continue to read:
Kathopanishad: The Science of the Inner
Life by Swami Krishnananda
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