Joy is absence of conditioning.

 "Joy by definition is the absence of conditioning, In this absence, there is a simple purity.  Joy is your inner nature.  Conditioning is an outer insertion that hides the inner nature."

~Acharya Prashant, From the book JOY.

Reflection:  Anything real cannot be defined directly, positively.  They can be known through negation, by knowing what it is not.  We all are seeking Joy.  Happiness and Joy are not same. Happiness is the dual opposite of sadness.  

Happiness is an experience that arises from conditioning. Joy is reasonless and it is freedom from conditioning.  

What is conditioning? 

Conditioning is the influence of others over the mind.

As we are born into this world, we had to depend on others as a child. We could not understand because the brain was not fully grown. So, we had to believe what others say. Our parents, school, society, culture, religion and the environment conditioned us to believe many things.  We had been told what is right and wrong. We had been told what is good and bad. We had been told what will make us happy and sad.  Since we were dependent and immature as children, we took everything told by others to be true. Our family and society where we are brought up conditioned our mind and thus our personality.  Greedy people know this tendency of mind very well. They cunningly put information into our mind for their profit.  We are motivated to consume too much because of the influence of advertisements and Cinema and TV shows.  We resist so much if our body is assaulted by others, but our mind is assaulted very badly, but we don't even pay attention to it.

 Animals are just conditioned biologically, but human beings are conditioned both biologically and socially.  Under the heavy burden of conditioning, the joy of simplicity and innocence is hidden. The light of the lamp is not visible if it is covered with heavy stains and colors.  Similarly, our pure Self is concealed inside layers and layers of conditioning. Most of us are living just like a machine.  We never look clearly what is going on within us and around us.  We simply keep accepting everything comes from outside. 

The clear seeing of what is happening is the beginning of JOY, the act of intelligence. 

Look at your daily life with the eye of honesty.  Ask real questions.  We never question even the fundamentals of life, like education, money, marriage, work etc., We follow the conditionings of biology and society like a sheep.  Is it our life not being executed in a pre programmed way?  

Everybody knows, what will happen at the age of 5.  You will go to school, after that, 10th exam will come,  you will study hard, because the marks are very  important, then 11th,12th, board exam, then, mostly you will choose between few famous branches because it is considered to be famous, and there are many industries in the country where we live seeks workers and you will call this your own inclination and personal interest. You will say, I want to be an Engineer.  Then, campus selection.  You will see everybody is getting married and you too desperately want to get into it.  Then, produce 2 children, preferably the first one to be boy. Then, buy a house and car, pay EMI, live in fear and insecurity, save money for old age and die one day. 

Is it not the pattern of our life?  Is our life not preprogrammed to be executed this way?  Are you living your life at all?  

 God is not far away. He is called as Kadavul in Tamil.  The word is so beautiful that it points to the Truth directly.  Kada means Transcend Ul is Inside.  Transcend the mind and move in.  God is not someone sitting in heaven, but God is hidden in our heart. The heart is covered up by the dust of  millions of years of conditioning.  

Watch carefully.  Our mind is not at all our own.  It is the world sitting on our head.  That's why the saints and sages asked us to surrender our head to realize Truth.