Desire

There is no end of desire in our life. It is increasing day by day. Literally, we are burning with desire. As soon as one desire fulfills another is alarming.  The desire of my son, the desire of my daughter, the desire of my wife and my own desire all is hammering on my head constantly as I am the head of the family. You can feel my pain, as you are also a passenger in the same train. The gist is: the desires are increasing day by day.

Increasing Desire: The income level of consumers has increased and as a result, the total demand of the market is increasing day by day. It is a good sign no doubt, but it makes our life restless. We want to purchase more, we want to consume more. Just we go to a nearby ATM, collect money, and go to market. Actually, we are purchasing more than our requirement day after day.

There are different types of desires growing in our mind. The desire for different types of commodities, the desire for money, the desire for name and fame, the desire for happy and peaceful life etc, etc. We are growing day by day and the desires are also growing day by day. There is no end of it. Literally, we are applying fuel in the fire everyday. We know the story of Maharaj Jajati. But, we never learn a lesson from the experiences of Maharaj Jajati and his conclusion.

Use Analysis Power: If we want peace in our life, we have to use our analysis power strongly and positively. As a human being, we have our analysis power to analyze anything.  We use this power rarely.

Positive Desire: Mould your desires in a positive way. We are running behind a golden deer throughout our life. At the end of our journey, we will feel that it is meaningless. Grow positive desire in your mind. Desire for a better life, desire for a perfect human character, desire for a heart that can feel for others. Human life is precious. It is a gift of God. Good and positive desires will make our life happy, peaceful and meaningful. It will also help us to develop both externally and internally. If we have no desires, then there will be no development. Our life will be like an unchanged wall or a simple chair. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) said:

``what makes us miserable? The cause of all miseries from which we suffer is desire. You desire something, and the desire is not fulfilled; the result is distress. If there is no desire, there is no suffering. But here, too, there is the danger of my being misunderstood. So it is necessary to explain what I mean by giving up desire and becoming free from all misery. The walls have no desire and they never suffer. True, but they never evolve. The chair has no desires, it never suffers; but it is always a chair. There is a glory in happiness, there is a glory in suffering. `` ¹

The will is almighty: ``What is the cause of evolution? Desire. The animal wants to do something, but does not find the environment favourable, and therefore develops a new body. Who develops it? The animal itself, its will. You have developed from the lowest amoeba. Continue to exercise your will and it will take you higher still. The will is almighty. If it is almighty, you may say, why cannot I do everything? But you are thinking only of your little self. Look back on yourselves from the state of the amoeba to the human being; who made all that? Your own will. Can you deny then that is almighty? That which has made you come up so high can make you go higher still. What you want is character, strengthening of the will.`` ²

Input – Output Ratio: Generally, we are taking more from the world, from our society and even from our family. But what is our contribution? We have to calculate the ratio. Try to take less and give more to the world.

A prayer for everyday:  `` O Thou Lord of Gauri, O Thou Mother of the Universe, vouchsafe manliness unto me! O thou Mother of Strength, take away my weakness, take away my unmanliness, and make me a Man! `` ³

References:

1. The complete works of Swami Vivekananda (CW) Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata. 2:147
2. CW, 2: 356-357
3. CW,  4: 480

Desire to bloom