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GOD.
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it is that they find it difficult to realize that the real nature of their souls is divinely blissful and joyous. But in the course of the progress on the 'path,' these fetters are removed one after another, by the conscious exertion of a self-conscious will, leading to greater and greater experiences of the delight of freedom and joy, as earnest or foretaste of redemption ; and finally when all the fetters have dropped off the soul, it stands revealed to the ecstatic vision of the saved one as identical with God who is the enjoyer of perfect freedom, all-embracing knowledge and unchanging, unabating bliss. The difference between the joy or delight of the mortals and the feeling of pure bliss is only one of degree, for they both express the freedom of the soul; but with the ordinary, ignorant humanity their expression is soon pushed below the surface by perverse thinking and unnatural living. Thus, they come into express manifestation only when some weight is lifted off the soul, and then only for so long as an old or additional burden is not forced on it.
From the foregoing explanation it is obvious that what gives us delight is necessarily that which removes our worries, and, thereby lightens the burden with which the soul is weighted down. Now, since we feel anxiety only when our personal interests are in some way concerned, it follows that anything which diverts our attention from our personality or its mediate or immediate concerns, for the time being, is a source of joy. The sight of beautiful landscapes, of majestic mountains, of works of art, and the like, are among such objects. But their disadvantage is that they only afford temporary respite.
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