Joy is the Solution, Not the Reward.

In 1976, a devastating fire destroyed nearly every building at Ananda Village. Swami Kriyananda's response to the loss was the opposite of the typical ones—despair or self-protection. Instead, he launched a nationwide lecture series called "The Joy Tours." In city after city, night after night, his powerful message remained the same: "Joy is the solution, not the reward."

In other words, joy is not something to earn, like a prize, at the end of hard effort. We should do everything with joy from the very start: Work with joy, live with joy, and bring it into every moment of action.

A story from spiritual lore illustrates this truth:

A young man enters an ashram seeking training. The guru assigns him a humble job of gathering firewood. The man serves faithfully as decades pass, never asking for more. One day, a lock of his hair catches between two logs, and is pulled out, and he sees with dismay that his black hair has turned gray. He realizes that he's spent his whole life serving, but hasn't heard a single lesson or studied a single sloka. He begins to weep in despair.

The guru rushes to him, catching his tears. He says, "Don't you know that if the tears of such a great soul as you were to touch the ground, they would bring famine for seven years?"

He then touches the disciple's heart, and instantly the man enters samadhi.

Selfless service, done with joy, purifies the ego. But we must always remember to infuse our service with joy. Joy is not a prize—it is the way itself.

Service For and With Joy

A second meaning of "Joy is the solution, not the reward" is that life's undertakings go so much better when done with joy—it is the oil in the machinery of life. When our energy contracts, when we act without joy, we lose both effectiveness and happiness.

Yogananda's second-most-advanced disciple, Yogacharya Oliver Black, was a successful businessman, a deep meditator, and a popular spiritual teacher. When I met him at his retreat center, Song of the Morning Ranch, he told me, "I have created a bubble of joy around me, and I never let anything or anyone burst that bubble."

A follower shared this story: Their temple once burned to the ground. After the fire, Yogacharya withdrew to his home and remained silent all day. That evening he joined everyone for dinner, cheerful, calm, and acting as if nothing had happened. He said simply, "I lost my bubble of joy for a few hours, but now it's back again."

Joy, being central to our very being, is a powerful force of nature. It generates energy and magnetism. When we serve with joy, our happiness attracts others. In Mark Twain's story of Tom Sawyer, Tom is given the boring task of whitewashing a fence. At first, he grumbles and groans. But then he hits upon a clever idea: He pretends to love the job, and his enthusiasm is contagious. His friends, intrigued by his exuberance, beg to join him. Soon his friends are doing all the work while Tom relaxes.

Joy attracts participation and magnetizes others to higher consciousness. When we serve joyfully, those around us will feel uplifted. Share your joy-work with others whenever possible rather than merely assigning tasks. Prioritize their happiness over the project itself. Bring humor, lightness, and friendship into your activities. Even if the job itself isn't inherently pleasant, doing it joyfully will make it so.

Yet even service must be balanced with detachment. Yogananda, quoting Ramakrishna, said that we should be like a maidservant who serves faithfully and energetically in her employer's house, but always returns to her home at day's end. Likewise, serve dynamically in this world, but remember that your true home is in God.

At Ananda's charitable work in Brindaban, India, a joyful spirit pervades every activity. The widow-mothers chant, work, and pray together like a happy family. During Diwali, the Festival of Lights, they happily paint and decorate hundreds of clay lamps while singing devotional songs. The lamps, filled with sacred energy, are then given away as gifts. Joy shared becomes joy multiplied.

--Excerpt from The Heart of Service by Nayaswami Jyotish