Can Calm And Electric Joy Coexist In The Same Person?

I agree that the end goal should be a cool, calm neutral state of mind no matter how exuberant or sorrowful external circumstances are doing true Bhakti to God and are truly God's favorite. This is elaborated further in ch 12 of the Bhagavad Gita 12.15 to 12.19. You can look up the meaning but the essence is the same.

Having said this, I am myself trying to put this in practice. It is relatively easier for me to stay cool and neutral during difficult circumstances. Since my mind is cool, I dont get provoked and I don't give any knee jerk reactions. I havent encountered any recent negative events of catastrophic proportions to test myself. But I sincerely hope I can maintain this state of mind even then.

However, I did encounter two extremly joyous events of stupendous proportions recently - one of which was awaited for years. I was chanting the Bhagavad Gita when the news came and spontaneously tears of joy and grattitude for the divine just overflowed freely from my eyes and heart. The feeling of grattitude overshadowed the feeling of joy and all I could do for the next few minutes is offer my thank you to Him in between my sobs.

 

You hit the nail on the head @Rihana . That calm can come only when you go beyond the "me" to take credit for the circumstances and instead surrender the outcome of all the events that happen in your life (both, good and bad to Him). Then the joy automatically transforms into intense grattitude.

 

As long as our mind is not at peace, there is no hope of being at peace. Peace is not something one can import from outside; it has to be found within.
The question, therefore, arises: how to put the mind at peace? The answer is in the question itself. Experience says that whatever you are in pursuit of, it is beyond reach. Stop, take a deep breath, and here lies in you that you were searching outside.

 

Such a thought provoking thread it is. Thanks for starting this discussion @Rihana

To answer your question:

From my experience, yes! I used to be a very expressive and loud person who celebrated even the smallest joys, whether it was my favourite cricket team winning or a new movie release of my favourite star. You can imagine the excitement I had for major personal milestones like a promotion, earning a degree, or buying a property.

At the same time, I was easily triggered. Even a small comment online or a casual remark at work could provoke me. But over time, life threw enough storms my way that gradually taught me to become calmer and more peaceful. This shift has helped me process situations better and handle challenges with more composure and wisdom.

In fact, I’ve recently gone through some of the most difficult phases of my life, and I was able to navigate them with remarkable calmness. Simply waited for the storms to pass while taking necessary and, most importantly, wise actions without panicking. This mindset made facing tough times surprisingly manageable.

Likewise, even my successes these days pass without much fanfare. They no longer excite me the way they once did. Usually, I just make a quick call to my husband or my mom to share the good news, or perhaps put up a brief social media post. That’s it. I don’t even check back on the comments or replies until my next login (sometimes weeks or months later ) and there are no celebrations. Life feels very peaceful now.

But do I enjoy this? Honestly, no — not at all. I miss being that lively, vibrant person. This calm, Zen-like state of mind feels more like survival mode than truly living. You can call it wisdom, maturity, or whatever you like. But deep down, I know: this too shall pass. Because it’s living in the moment that truly makes life beautiful.

 

Pleasure and pain are part of life cycle as we live our lives with our own mind and the structure of thoughts, emotions, feelings, principles, etc. built in our mind. It includes all our life experiences, our interaction with our parents at a young age, our relationship with the spouse and children and many more. Every one of us have a right to pursue happiness but have an obligation to love every fellow beings with their own positive and negative traits as everyone built their lives out of thier bundle of thoughts, emotions, feelings and principles. If we expect others to accept us the way we are, we have to accept others as they are. Right and wrong can be determined only when we raise above the mind and use our conscience. The agitated mind provides arguments not to listen to the conscience, therefore, the peace becomes essential element for right living.

Frankly, peace, right living, love, truth and our ability to not hurt others are somewhat related and comingled with each other. The key factors that influence our clear conscience are right living, gratitude, sacrifice, and service to others. Even though our ultimate goal is to pursue happiness, what we pursue is limited by our mind's ability to determine what is true happiness. If we like to place ourselves in a permanent bliss, then, one should be able to observe the happenings and not get attached to it. Pain and pleasure are relative terms measured by our mind. If we are pursuing peace at all times, we need to seek right living, gratitude , sacrifice and service to others. When we are dedicated in all our actions and full of devotion in faith of God, do our duties with care and diligence, have determination to achieve our goals, discrimination to differenciate right from wrong, and discipline to conduct our lives with rigor and discipline, we reach the point of peace that is inherent in us. Frankly, we are only moving away from that point of bliss and peace only by our thoughts, words and actions.

How do we determine whether we are walking towards or away from it? Our Mind is like a shadow of our conscience. If our shadow is behind us, then, we are walking towards the Oneness or light and if it is in front of us, we are walking away from the Oneness or light. Our entire effort is unite our body, mind, intellect complex with our Consciousness.