Why is it necessary to have no desires?
The world says, ‘Follow your desires.’ Spiritual life says, ‘Step away from your desire.’ We all have desires, and all these desires are tamasic desires. Each desire is for self-gratification; it is not a selfless desire. The desires which seek personal, sensorial, sensual gratification have to be balanced. The negative desires have to be channelled, and the sattwic, positive desires have to come to the forefront. This is the journey.
To be desireless is not possible, but to control desires is very possible. Somebody had asked Sage Buddha, ‘How do you know that one is progressing in meditation and spiritual life?’ He said, ‘If the cravings of the mind become less, if the desires of the mind become less, you are progressing on the path.’ If the desires do not become less, remain in their intensity, and still seek self-gratification, then there is no progress. Sage Buddha gave that as an indication of your development in spiritual life.
This is definitely true. Who is saying, ‘I want to be desireless.’ Who is saying, ‘I have desires.’ They are two sides of your own mind. One side which is looking to the world, and the other side of the coin is looking to the back. We are looking to the world, from the head side, outside. Our engagement is in the world.
For those who want to do that, it is perfectly fine. People have been doing that for thousands of years, living and enjoying the world, with all the wealth and prosperity, frustration, pain and suffering – everything is there. You can give vent to your desires as much as you want. You can choose never to be satisfied. If you have ninety-nine, you will want one hundred. If you have one hundred, you will want hundred and one. You can choose never to be satisfied on the outside. That defines our normal character.
Then there are certain people, who are spiritually inclined or spiritually aware. Instead of looking out for their own engagement, involvement and gratification, they begin to look at something different which is not common. When they look inside, the desires which are linking them with the external sense objects are cut. Your engagement with the world reduces while you are looking inside. So, there is already reduction of your expectations. In that reduction of your expectations, you will discover peace.
When people meditate and there is disconnection, they feel very peaceful and comfortable, and say, ‘I have never felt like this before.’ Otherwise, from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep, and while you are sleeping, you are constantly engaging yourself with the senses and the sensorial world. In the waking state there is no disconnection, and in sleep also there is no disconnection. The subconscious and unconscious conditions prevail.
When we look inwards, the other side of the coin, then the whole mind-set is different. There is no sense object with which you have to connect. You are not visualizing pizza or any kind of good food. You are observing your breath or you are saying your mantra. It is a totally different activity, where there is no experience of craving. With eyes open, I can crave all the time: ‘I like your clothes, I like her watch, I like his mala, I like his glasses, I like his tattoos . . .’ I can look at everything and continue thinking, ‘This could happen, this could happen, or I can also do this, you can also do that . . .’ and you go on a head-trip. With eyes closed, you can only go on an internal trip. In a natural process, the desires become less. If you do not want to leave the desires, do not leave them. If you want to experience spiritual awareness, the spiritual condition, you have to experience that aspect of yourself, which can disconnect itself from its associations with the external sense objects. That is the meaning of the words, ‘reduction of desires’.
I cannot be a one hundred percent happy, because there is so much suffering in the world. How can I work with this feeling through yoga?
You are saying that you cannot be one hundred percent happy because there is so much suffering in the world. How can you ever be happy by looking at the world? If you see the world, you will see the condition of the world. If there is suffering, you will see suffering. If there is war, that is what you will see; if there is pain, that is what you will see. Anything that you see outside is not going to give you satisfaction or happiness, as there is total disharmony. Happiness and peace are experienced when there is harmony; not in a disharmonious condition of either civilization, society, nation, or the individual.
When do you feel peace? When you feel that your mind and emotions are at rest. If the mind and emotions of people are at rest, there will be global peace. If you say, ‘I cannot be happy because the world is suffering,’ then you have missed the point. You are not working on yourself. You are simply crying, as you feel you are unable to deal or cope with what you are observing. That represents your weakness. Either be weak or be strong; the choice is yours. Our environment, our society, our family, our profession are creating stressors in our life. Sometimes they are strong enough to shake our internal balance. You can be happy, but to be one hundred percent happy, do not look at the world. Look at the universe and expand your vision.
Look at the universe and realize the presence of divinity, God in the universe, and then you will be happy. If everything is contained in God, and God is contained in everything, then why are you sad? Either you believe in God, or you do not believe in God. Therefore, all the spiritual traditions speak of God; not because God is a good selling point. Anyway, there is no need to sell God, if the realization is that there is a benevolent power that created the worlds and nourishes all life, though in its invisible form through the Big Bang. There is so much richness and harmony in creation. Everything follows the cosmic law, known as ritam; no planet drops out of its orbit. That is the shift that has to happen in mind and in consciousness.
This is the teaching of the masters too. Swami Sivananda said, ‘Live the Divine Life.’ What is living the divine life? A positive, optimistic, qualitative life. If each one can try and live that kind of life, definitely peace and happiness will increase in society and in the world. Try to find a balance between the external that you see, and the internal that you experience. That will be your achievement.
Should everyone walk the spiritual path one day or the other, in this life? Is it not okay if we stay in worldly life and yet do good deeds?
Even those who live the normal worldly life and do good deeds are spiritual people. The hallmark of spirituality is doing good deeds. Those who are not aware of spiritual life, do good deeds and are spiritual, but they do not know that they are spiritual. Those who know that they are spiritual still continue to do good deeds, like Swami Sivananda and Swami Satyananda. Their every thought, their every action was for the welfare of others. What does the statement ‘Kindness is yoga’ mean? The statement does not say that asana practice or meditation is yoga. The statement is that kindness is yoga. If you can understand this sentence, you have achieved it.
Everyone has to go through this process of evolution, and ultimately come to the point of spiritual awareness and spiritual realization. Everyone, whether they do it in this life, or whether it takes many lives in the course of evolution. Leave that up to destiny, as everything is decided. Ultimately, you get what you need, not what you want. What destiny holds for us, we do not know. We can focus on what is within our control to make this journey. We can focus on making our journey a comfortable and a joyous one. Spiritual awareness is the destiny of every living creature, even though they may not be humans; even dogs and animals have spiritual destinies.
7 November 2024, Ganga Darshan