Lessons From A Honeybee (From Lower Joy To Higher Joy)

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The Vedanta Kesari, p. 406-408, November 2007

Those who are yet to overcome their 'housefly-mindset' are always interested in others' faults only. They fail to recognise the goodness inherent in them. They want to enjoy the 'wounds'. Their taste-buds are yet not trained or purified. Hence they do not enjoy the nectar of goodness and greatness. They want to drink the poison of shortcomings and human failings. Sri Ramakrishna calls such pleasure—if at all it can be called a 'pleasure'—as vishyananda or the pleasure born of indulging in senses or pampering the ego. Vishyananda is actually poison, visha. Having drunk the poison of vishyas, such unfortunate minds cry and scream, 'Oh, this dirty world! People are so selfish, they are killing me!' They never stop to question their source of pleasure (and the resultant inner disorder).

'Housefly mindset' eats into the very vitals of a human being. It ruins their life, their families and their organisation. Think of the media programmes as also the glaring instances of several leaders and their followers filled with poisonous thoughts. All social evils that plague us can be traced to a rise in the number of people who are yet to train their mental taste buds. Being habituated to the poison of hatred, jealousy, lust, anger and all its other forms, such people grumble and complain of being victimised. The facts are, however, different: they have never nurtured their minds with the nectar of higher thought.

There are, however, others, who have purified their taste buds. They seek the joy of thinking lofty thoughts. Their minds have cultivated the habit of higher thinking. They want to feel the presence of a higher power, a Divine Centre present in others and in their own heart. They enjoy, what Sri Ramakrishna calls, bhajanananda or the joy of doing bhajan or repetition of pure, holy thoughts. Apart from these two types of joys (ananda), there is the third type, the highest type of joy—the joy of being immersed in the Ultimate Reality (brahmananda).

A honeybee's getting absorbed in the act of honey-making is often compared to enjoying the bhajanananda. This spiritual absorption is what the human mind is capable of at its best. This, again, is what a devotee or a seeker after Truth should pray for. A popular hymn by Swami Abhedananda (a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna), addressed to Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi says:

Renounce, my mind-bee,
The sense-flowers of the earth,
Drink the nectar of 'Lotus-feet'
Enjoy, thus, in peace and mirth.
In charm of 'Delusion'
Then shall you cease to be.
O Great Mother of the world,
Be my salutations ever to Thee!

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About the author

Swami Atmashraddananda

Swami Atmashraddhananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and editor of The Vedanta Kesari from the year 2004.