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contented. For the first time one feels one has come home.
The beginning is bitter but the end is very sweet.
Gautam the Buddha used to say again and again that worldly pleasures are sweet in the beginning and bitter in the end. And divine bliss is bitter in the beginning and sweet in the end.
Bliss alone, without peace, is a state of feverishness, excitement, but not of ecstasy. That's the difference between excitement and ecstasy: ecstasy is both blissful and peaceful; excitement is only bliss; hence there is such turmoil. It is a beautiful turmoil, it is a noise, a noise that one would like to have, but sooner or later one is bound to get tired of it. That's what happens to all kinds of pleasures and happiness and joys in life. They are all different facades of bliss, but one thing is missing -- peace is missing -- hence they are shallow, and ultimately boring and tiring. They are good for a few moments but how long can one remain excited? Excitement is exertion, it is not rest; hence bliss alone is not of much value.
Peace alone is also not of much value. It is cold and dead. It is like the silence that prevails in the cemetery; it is the silence of the grave. You will find it around the so-called saints. They are peaceful because they are dead.
The real thing is to have both together, then peace remains the centre and bliss becomes the cyclone. And when you have both, life is ecstatic, it is tremendous joy. And it is not tiring; on the contrary, it goes on refreshing you. Then it is bliss with a new dimension, the dimension of peacefulness. It is peace with a new dimension, the dimension of blissfulness.
Both together make life whole. Otherwise, it is easy to achieve one, but then one remains lop-sided and one remains half; and to be half is to be miserable. To be whole brings celebration to life.
My sannyasins have to be really whole persons.
A person becomes capable of blessing others only when he is full of blissfulness. In fact then one need not bless, blessings go on pouring. Your bliss starts overflowing; you become like a fountain. And you become connected with the inexhaustible source of life.
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