How to be happy by finding a balance between financial needs and spiritual development
How can we achieve long-lasting pleasure by finding a balance between our spiritual development and material needs? Material wants are like traveling towards the South Pole, and spiritual advancement is like moving towards the North Pole; therefore, if we can figure out a means to go to both the North and South Poles simultaneously, we can definitely strike a balance. Whereas temporal pleasure comes and goes, spiritual progress brings you serenity, ecstasy, and delight that never ends. Material wants will provide you pleasure and tension.
We must recognize that the two are diametrically opposed. Because they operate with opposing forces and in opposing directions, one cannot attempt to balance both. It is up to us to decide which of them to take.
Pleasure is the first peak of happiness and it usually results from success. Passion, ambition, and achievement are necessary for this enjoyment. It demands a focused intellect and an inflated ego, yet it always ends in tension and worry. This joy is often accompanied by anxiety, fear, and melancholy as outcomes of achievement. On the other hand, pursuing spirituality means having a clear mind and choosing to stray from the road of pleasure. Rather, we choose to look for serenity and understand why we are here. We work to provide answers to the key questions, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” In spirituality, true pleasure is learned rather than found. It results from being freed from the threefold agony caused by the mind, body, and ego.
Once you’re successful, you’ll have to confront the Seven Monsters of the Mind: guilt, shame, regret, anxiety, stress, and fear. Depression is caused by these beasts. You confront the Monsters of the Ego—Anger, Hatred, Revenge, Jealousy, Pride, and Selfishness—with success and joy. These monsters breed hostility, and one can never be really happy when aggression and despair are together.
However, you will arrive at a state of SatChitAnanda if you decide to go in the direction of the north, if you embark on an inner trip, and if you let go of the pleasure, which only brings you fleeting delight. Truth Consciousness leads to a state of eternal bliss known as Sat-Chit-Ananda. In this condition, one becomes free of all mental and egoistic monsters and enters an eternal state of peace. Happiness is built on a foundation of peace. Instead of chasing after things that make you happy since those things won’t last forever, you go on an inner quest to become conscious and experience divine bliss. You continue to have a monkey mentality that brings suffering and anguish by thinking about yesterday as tomorrow. When you have an enlightened ego, you transcend the ego that is stirred by hatred and fury and arrive at a new gate.
That being said, this is a far cry from the quest for accomplishment. It is not the transitory, fleeting enjoyment that may be found in financial pursuits. Therefore, attempting to strike a balance between a spiritual and material existence is not necessary. It’s just not practical! If you choose to pursue pleasure through material means, you are ready to face all of life’s challenges. On the other hand, if you choose a spiritual path, you may expect to encounter divinity, serenity, happiness, and joy in addition to learning about your life’s mission. You will understand karma, learn how to accept without resisting, and become an expert at surrendering. You’ll come to accept the idea that “whatever will be, will be” eventually.
Thus, make up your mind whether you wish to go north and arrive at that level of Eternal Bliss in Truth Consciousness or south and repeatedly experience joy and suffering, gain and loss, sun and rain. Though it’s up to you, don’t attempt to balance it—you just can’t! It is easy to understand. The spiritual and material worlds are comparable to the two ends of a see-saw game. Both sides cannot be at the top. One side descends while the other is elevated. So is life, both material and spiritual.
Recall! You can only experience fleeting joy in a material existence since money cannot purchase eternal peace. Seeking the material world will lead to sporadic success and contentment. However, if you pursue the spiritual realm, you may be freed from all suffering and anguish as long as you live joyfully in the here and now and don’t dwell on the past or the future. You must therefore make a decision, and the decision is ultimately yours: do you desire a life full of pleasures that only provide fleeting enjoyment, or do you want a life filled with eternal peace, divine love, and bliss?
