For such comforts which appear within us, certainly no person or object which exists outside is a reason for that.
It is not at all possible for an external object to create happiness inside us.
A nice story told by a great enlightened Master to easily understand petty pleasures.
A dog was wandering here and there unable to bear its hunger. The dog did not know any aim other than: It is enough if I get some thing – my hunger should be satisfied. That is all.
The dog, which was wandering hungrily, became happy on the way, as if it got a gift. It saw at a distance a bone which was thin and dry.
Hungrily, the dog jumped and seized the bone quickly.
As the hunger hid the sight and feelings, the dog began biting the dry bone demonically.
As the dog was concentrating on the struggle of eating the bone, the dog did not realize the continuous pricking of the bones in its jaws or the pain caused by this.
After some time, as the bone pricked again and again the wounds became bigger and wider and blood began to drip out from the inside of its jaw.
Poor dog! As it started to believe that the blood was indeed coming only from the bone, its joy knew no bounds. It was biting the bone to the maximum extent possible.
There was more and more blood as it went on biting the bone. But, the dog felt at that moment, 'The more the biting, the more the pleasure.' It also appeared for that moment that its hunger also got satisfied!
After some time, the dog started feeling new pain and irritation in its jaws.
Then that dog thought: What is this new trouble?
It was only its own blood which gave it the 'pleasure of taste'. But what about the one that gave it the pain? Till the end, what was the use of the bone for the dog, except that it was biting it for a few minutes!
The beginning as well as the end of petty pleasures will be similar to how the dog felt before and after biting the bone. That is why the enlightened Masters say that petty pleasures are not necessary.
When man experiences joy for a few seconds in petty pleasures it is not due to external objects. It is the inherent continuous bliss in man that surfaces for those few seconds when he experiences pleasures.
Man struggles without knowing the goal for his birth which is the desire to drink the bliss by drowning in the ocean of bliss which is present within his own self. The result is that he continuously struggles. He searches for various opportunities. He doesn't get even a few. Even if he gets an opportunity he does not experience satisfaction from it.