Shri Nathji also explained beautifully that the objects of the world did not in fact give any happiness at all, and it was only the heart of man that experienced this happiness because it was at peace with itself.
It was the peace within a man’s own heart that in reality gave the man happiness, but he assumed wrongly that the happiness came to him from the external objects of the world.
To illustrate this, Shri Nathji gave another example from the modern world.
You are sitting inside a cinema theatre along with your friend and you are enjoying the film being shown. You thrill with joy and laugh ecstatically. You and your friend think that the film is the greatest thing in the world for you, because it is giving you so much happiness.
And you say: Who says that the external objects of the world do not give any happiness? Here I am deriving so much of happiness from this film!
Your friend agrees with you wholeheartedly and the two of you are absorbed, body, mind and soul in the film, fully convinced that it is the source of your happiness.
Just then your servant enters the cinema hall and seeks you out. He hands you a telegram that had arrived at your house. The telegram tells you that someone whom you loved dearly is gone from the world. The news is so devastating that you are numbed with shock.
All of a sudden you stop laughing and are plunged in a world of gloom. Your friend sees you in this serious mood and says: Why aren’t you laughing? Look! Look at this scene, isn’t it terrific?
You look at the actors and actresses on the screen, which had just moments before captured your heart, but you find no happiness in the film. Your eyes look upon the screen but instead see a world of gloom.
The very same story in the film, the very same comic scenes, the very same actors and actresses, fill the screen and do their utmost to entertain you and to make you laugh, but you hardly notice them.
The film fails to give you even an iota of happiness. On the contrary, it begins to become revolting. You begin to hate the laughter on the screen and the laughter of the audience.
If the film was a real source of happiness then why had it ceased to give any happiness now?
The answer:
Because your peace of mind is gone. Your heart is restless; there is no peace within it. Nothing in the world will please you now; no object of the world will give you happiness for as long as the heart remains without peace.
Suddenly the realisation dawns upon you that, when the film appeared to be giving you happiness, it was in fact the peace within your heart that was giving you the happiness. The moment that peace was gone, the happiness seen in the outside world vanished in a second!
It was with such a beautiful example that Shri Nathji explained a very complex spiritual truth. Whereas the religious texts of the past gave examples from those ages of old which had little relevance for the world of today, Shri Nathji explained complex spiritual truths with the use of simple modern day examples that even a child could understand. At the same time even philosophers and intellectuals would exclaim with wonder when they listened to these parables that Shri Nathji related, which had a modern day setting. With the simple example of the cinema narrated above, Shri Nathji explained that man could not enjoy the things of the world unless he had peace within his heart.