Episode 13 – The Joy They Didn’t See

What if the joy you’re chasing isn’t really joy?

In this episode, Ritesh Das explores the quiet truth behind lasting joy—not the kind that comes from applause or outcomes, but the kind born from presence, practice, and deep inner alignment. Drawing from Vedantic teachings, daily discipline, and a life shaped by sound, he reflects on how real joy begins only after you’ve unlearned the noise and remembered your Swadharma—your true rhythm, not the world’s formula.

There’s a difference between excitement and joy.
 Excitement is external, loud, and fleeting.
 Joy is internal, still, and enduring.

This episode touches the heart of Abhyāsa (steady practice), Vairāgya (letting go), and the courage it takes to walk away from illusion—even the ones that look like success. Ritesh shares how he spent years following the formulas of others—until life brought him back to his own centre. That return came at a cost, but it brought with it a joy that no audience could give or take away.

And then, sometimes… something beyond even that appears.

A moment when artist, audience, and sound become one.
 When presence speaks—not performance.
 When something true enters the room.

His elder brother—the legendary Kathak dancer Pandit Chitresh Das—shared a phrase from his Guru:
 Lo Ban Jai.
You don’t plan it. You don’t perform it.
You witness it.
And then it’s gone.

This episode is a remembering.
 Not of how to succeed—but how to be.

Tat tvam asi.
You are That.