19 February 2015 - QA 1

Gurudev, the senses are limited yet our desire to enjoy is unlimited. Please speak on this.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

This is the problem! The capacity of the senses to enjoy is limited but the desire in the mind is unlimited. This discrepancy between wanting to enjoy and the ability to enjoy causes all sorts of ailments.
Bulimia is one such ailment. Bulimia is only related to food but similar diseases can be related to all other senses as well. And this is what in one word you may call obsession.
You are obsessed with something, though your ability to enjoy that is limited. That is where transcending the five sense has a lot of meaning. When you transcend the five sense, you find the inner peace and inner joy. Then this craving of five senses subsides naturally and effortlessly.
The joy that comes from being still cannot be compared with anything. Then anything else becomes a botheration. It’s feels like things require too much effort and appears to be very small than the joy that you gain from being still. You need to get used to that also.
So, when you recognize this problem, then you have put your foot down and say, ‘No, this is enough.’

All this only leads to one thing, that we want to be more happy, more joyful, and we think that we can find it in those things (here meaning from sensory pleasures) but it really isn’t so. We need to go into the source of joy, source of happiness and that can come only from within.