The Master Said ...11. - Swami Sivananda

(Speech delivered by Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj on the 26th December 1954, at Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, for the celebration of the 34th birthday of Sri Swami Venkatesananda.)
11.

 The little sensual pleasure is no pleasure at all.
When there is a patch of eczema, you scratch yourself and seem to enjoy it.
Later is bleeds, and you suffer from intense pain.

Similar is the case with the pleasure derived from sensual objects here.
You must have a bold understanding to ask yourself: “Is this really pleasure?”
and arrive at the conclusion that it is no pleasure at all.

Study the phenomenon of deep sleep; that itself will give you the knowledge that you can get real joy and peace only when you go beyond the objects of this world.
In deep sleep, there are not objects, and there is no objective enjoyment.
Yet, you enjoy great bliss and peace there.

You say: “I slept well; I enjoyed my sleep; but I did not know anything.”
In spite of the absence of the sensual objects, you got the homogeneous experience of bliss.
This joy is not to be had in the sense-objects.

The third cup of milk produces retching and vomiting.
If it is really pleasure-giving, it ought to give you that homogeneous experience, eternal and everlasting.

It is only to the dull-witted, gross persons that the worldly objects appear to be pleasurable.
For a man of discrimination, it is no pleasure at all.

Swami Sivananda
To be continued  ..