If an object truly gave joy, then that the joy should be uniformly the same for all people. Yet you know that this is not the case. If a particular object gives joy and pleasure to some people, the same object may be objectionable to other people, giving displeasure to them. If the joy were really inherent in the object itself, it should be the same for everyone.... Whatever joy is experienced is not directly associated with the object with which it has been mistakenly identified, but that this joy comes only from within. It is a reflection of one’s own inexhaustible inner source of joy. Ordinary people think that the joy or pain which they get from being with people whom they like or dislike, comes from those people; but it is not so. It is one’s own likes and dislikes which are responsible for one’s joy or sorrow. All joys and pleasures which you enjoy in this world are only temporary, and are just reflections of immeasurable joy which is inside. Out of ignorance you believe that your joy comes from the sense objects and that momentary joy is true. But only what is permanent is true. You get joy while performing an action but you do not experience the same joy after the action is completed. You are simply deluded by the feeling that there is some joy in the fruit of action. But truly speaking, there is no joy whatsoever in the fruit. The joy which you believe you get from fruit is only a reflection; it is a shadow of the real joy; it is a phantom. It is not the permanent joy that you are seeking. (DBG, pp. 128, 132, 228)
Joy derived through seva (service) reacts on the deha (body) and frees you of roga (disease). (DBG, p. 259)
The joy in being the master of senses is far greater than being their slave. (SV90, p. 116)
‘There is more joy in the doing of karma than in the fruit it may give; the pilgrimage is often more pleasurable than the actual experience of the temple to which the pilgrim went’. (SV90, p. 122)
Joy and grief are as day and night. (GV, p. 5)
When the Atma is discovered as the master, and recognised as such, joy reigns undisturbed in the home. (SSS Vol.7, p. 162)
Joy and peace do not inhere in external objects; they are in you yourself. But people, in their foolishness, search for these outside themselves in a world from which, today or tomorrow, they are bound to depart. Joy comes to man, not through the shape of things but through the relationship established. Not any child but her child makes the mother happy. So also with each one and with all things. With each and everything in the universe, if one establishes that kinship, that Ishvara Prema, verily, what an overwhelming joy can be experienced. (Prema Vahini, p. 19)
I desire you to contemplate on My Truth and derive Joy therefrom. (GA, p. 266)
Discover the fountain of joy within
The charavakas (the materialists) argued that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. They said that the pleasure you now have should not be given up in the hope of something promised later on, if this is given up. But, the happiness of renunciation can be enjoyed here and now, and is much more sustaining and inspiring than the happiness derived from grabbing and attachment. Besides, there is a certain joy in being the master of the senses, rather than in being their slave. Now, you are slaves of the coffee habit. Resolve not to cater to that attachment and stick to that resolution for three days continuously. You become the master and the tongue is your slave. Coffee cannot hold sway over you any longer. If coffee is capable of conferring joy, all should get it equally from that beverage. But, some prefer tea and many find it distasteful. Some delight in taking it without sugar and others without milk. So, it is the mind that gives delight, not the coffee; it is not the object that caters to the senses.
The secret is, discover the fountain of joy within; that is a never-failing, ever-full, ever-cool fountain, for it rises from God. What is the body? It is but the Atma encased in five sheaths, the Annamaya (the one composed of food), the Pranamaya (the one composed of vitality), the Manomaya (the one composed of thought), the Vijnanamaya (the one composed of intelligence) and the Anandamaya (the one composed of bliss). By a constant contemplation of these sheaths or koshas, the sadhaka attains discrimination to recede from the outer to the inner and the more real. Thus, step by step, he abandons one kosha after another and is able to dissolve away all of them, to achieve the knowledge of his unity with Brahmam. (SSS Vol.5)