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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA
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food that the sense of pleasure, or joy, lies but in my inclinations, that is, my mind. This is further borne out by the fact that many things, when they are taken for the first time, are found to be quite disagreeable in their nature, as, for instance, is the case with smoking ; but, when persisted in, there comes a time when the mind becomes accommodating enough to long for them. The things here also remain the same; it is the mind which accommodates itself sufficiently to like them. From these facts we are entitled to conclude that the pleasures of taste are not in the food which we eat, but in the mind ; and the same argument serves our purpose to prove that the case with the other senses cannot be any different. Besides, if pleasures or joys existed in the world outside myself, they could only pass through the media of the senses ; but I never feel pleasure or joy passing through my senses, but only matter, in some form or other. I further notice that pleasures are short-lived and depend on the actual contact with the particles of matter, or, if you prefer it that way, on the actual contact between the mind and the vibrations from the objects of the material universe. Hence, music is delightful only so long as it is heard, food is agreeable only so long as it is being eaten, and so forth. That mind itself sometimes produces agreeable sensations is no proof that these pleasures are lasting, in any sense of the word ; on the contrary, it proves that the mind is capable of giving rise to the identical sensations, when excited by internal causes, and quite independently of the objects of the senses.
There is also the other aspect of the sensual pleasures to be taken into consideration. They are not only short-lived but also the source of worry and trouble to the individual. If I like a thing, I long to get it more and more; hence if my means and other circumstances do not permit my doing so, I feel miserable. Moreover, my search for the objects of sensual pleasures brings me in conflict, very often, with men who have the same objects in view, and thus makes me fight for them. But I cannot always hope to emerge triumphantly from these fights. When I grow old and my body is rendered unfit to enjoy the pleasures of the senses, I groan in actual misery, for the longing is there but minus the capacity for gratification. The question is : Do I care for such enjoyments only as the senses can afford
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