DESIRE

There is a saying of a tamil saint “shed the desire even if it be towards God” (“Asai arumin, asai arumin, Isanodayinun asai arumin”) Desire arises only when there is a feeling of ‘dwaitha’ i.e, myself and others – a feeling of separateness, a feeling of imperfection. Adwaita is the Truth on which the dwaitha has been superimposed. Desire is the root cause of all our sufferings. When I feel to be imperfect desire arises to acquire something from outside to make me perfect. Desire produces thoughts and thoughts turned into action. When once the desire is fulfilled the feeling of imperfection is removed and a joy is felt. When the desire is not fulfilled sorrow arises and pain is felt and this cycle of pleasure and pain is repeated throughout the life. Thus it can be seen that pleasure and pain are the products of desire which has its roots in ignorance about our reality. Our Reality is Perfection; Oneness and Happiness (Akhandanandan) . When we are already that, what is there to desire and what is there to act? The veil of ignorance has to be removed and this is possible only through knowledge.

Desire is the forfidden fruit tempting everyone from the period of Adam and Eve! By consuming the fruit we revolt against our own real nature. We feel imperfect; we feel separatness; we feel unhappy. In the process of fulfilling our umpteen desires we lose the track of the smooth life-journey.

Admittedly we are born with a bundle of vasanas dipped in Gunas. All our thoughts, expressions and actions are the result of those vasanas. Each one is unique in nature and it is next to impossible to change one’s mould. The understanding of this helplessness brings in an attitude of ‘Acceptance’ which is the first step to put a full-stop to our running race and to turn back to find out what we are and who we are? There is an aphorism “How did you look like before your mother and father were born?” Have we ever thought of this? Can we find out a satisfactory answer? This is a simple and effective mrthod to stop our running race!
Thus to get out of the struggle, running race and consequent suffering, we have to initially develop the attitude of Acceptance. By saying this I am not advocating fatalism! Fate is only a bye-product of Free Will and this Free Will has always an upper hand over fate. To what extent the vasanas, gunas and fate can be changed by the Free will, is the question.
As already pointed out in the beginning, Adwaita is the truth and there is no room for dwaita and no room for desire or action. Our Real Swaroopam is “Shantam, Shivam, Adwaitham” on which swabhavam has been superimposed. Now, from the relative stand point we may analyse “desire” and how far the desire can be reduced, if not eliminated entirely.
Man is born with anthakaranam . a subtle body comprising of mind, intellect, memory and ego. Consciousness is the life giver. While the anthakaranam has been formed out of the satwik aspect of tamoguna, consciousness is the reflection of Brahman in individual as jeeva . Jeeva assumes rajoguna by attaching itself to the individual. Thus jeeva motivates desires and action in anthakarana. Free Will is that part of consciousness which gives life power to jeeva and at the same time keep aloof without identifying with the anthakarana. Free Will is therefore the controller and at the same time untouched by the doings of anthakarana! While events in one’s life take place as per karma vasanas (prarabdha) Free Will has a say in respect of the attitude of the individual towards the events. In the anthakarana, mind is the producer of sankalpas, memory (chittam) is the store house of vasanas and ego produces the feeling of individuality; separatness which feels imperfection.and produces thoughts, desires and action with the help of other indriyas. Intellect however stands aloof and we have to explore this mechanism whi ch only can give us the knowledge of Free Will within us. The Free Will guides the intellect to fashion the attitude of man notwitstanding the influence of vasanas and gunas.
All desires need not come out as action. In such cases the intellect can wipe out those desires or reduce them .Only those actions which are destined to happen (as per prarabdha – karma vasanas) come out spontaneously. Even in respect of such spontaneous actions at the root there is desire because of the vasanas. We have also to analyse what is desire; wht is ‘need’; what is ‘want’ ; what is ‘greediness’; and what is ‘indulgence’. Intellect enlightened by the Free Will has to discriminate and allow only those desires which are to meet the needs. Those desires to meet the wants are to be exercised with caution. Desires in respect of greediness and indulgence are to be eliminated. Desires do arise even after the ‘realisation’ of Truth. But those desires will be confined to needs. Even here the urge to fulfil the same will be absent.
Desires in the rajasic state i.e, vasanas with predominent rajasic qualities, bring in disappointment and anger in the event of non-fulfilment of those desires. Desires in the satwik state wont bring in disappointment, anger or such negative emotions in the event of non-fulfilment, Such individuals in the event of failure of attaining the favourable result, attribute the same to the law of karma, and favourable results are connected to the Grace of God. Desires and attachment cannot be totally eliminated . Instead of desiring material benefits and attaching ourselves to the desired objects, we should redirect our desires towards God. In Bhakthi marga, surrender to God is advocated so that the only desire in a true bhaktha is God and God-related worship, pooja, namasankeerthana, listening to puranas, life stories of bhakthas etc.

Through gnana or karma or bhakthi one should be able to connect his small self to the Cosmic Self so that he can free himself from the net of suffering.