"maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu" (PART 11)

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Galvanizing not Suppressing is the Key to

----

Conquest of “kaama”

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Like it or not, we all must deal with our “kaama”.

 

Human Desire, “kaama”, much like Gravity, is

irrepressible force of Life and stark fact of Reality

too. It can be tapped or exploited to great advantage.

It can never, however, be suppressed or simply wished

away. The pull of gravity that an aircraft overcomes

in order to take to the skies is the same force too

that enables it to make a safe landing. And again,

yes, Gravity simply drags everything down to earth but

that is precisely the reason why water dragged in

gushing torrents down a giant dam produces valuable

hydro-electric power too.

 

Likewise, the irrepressible power of “kaama” that

makes every man’s heart pump and throb with Desire may

be used in either of two ways: It may be exploited or

galvanized (in the same way as Gravity is galvanized

in a hydro-electric dam) in order to extract real and

durable spiritual advantage; or else, it may be put to

use in the pursuit of trifling pleasures and

compulsive gratifications of life.

 

Vedanta recognizes fully that it is the nature of a

compulsion to be almost beyond control. As long as we

are in the grip of the desire, it seems we cannot

think of anything else until we satisfy it. The

important point to note here is not that there is

anything wrong in the desire itself, but simply that

we do not have the CAPACITY TO CHOOSE when it is all

right to gratify it and when it isn’t.

 

Vedanta identifies the major cause of all kinds of

compulsive desires to be obsessive identification with

the body (“sarira-" or “prakruti-“ sambhandam” is the

technical jargon for it in Sanskrit). It is because we

identify ourselves with the body that when a sensory

craving comes, we feel we have no choice but to

satisfy it. The alternative is to feel frustrated,

repressed, and unfulfilled.

 

“It never occurs to us that we might not be what our

desires are. But as long as we identify ourselves with

our desires, we can never be masters of our selves.

And to be masters of ourselves means that we must be

ABLE TO CHOOSE EXACTLY WHAT WE DESIRE, choose exactly

what we think: which means that for many, many years

we will have to say 'No' to a lot of compulsive

thoughts and cravings. It is a long, long journey

indeed to real freedom from Desire....” (Eknath

Easwaran)

 

So, at the end of it all, it all amounts to one thing

in life: fundamental human choice. You can either

galvanize the awesome power lying latent in

“kaama”.... or, you can choose to simply fritter it

all away.

 

*************

 

Now, that which determines which of the two disparate

ways Man will choose in order to control and channel

his “kaama” is generally termed, in the philosophy of

Vedanta, as “Will” or “icchA-shakti”.

 

To be able to effectively make the choice as to what

exactly will be desires of our life and what will not,

it is the Will that must be awakened and exercised. As

long as “kaama” prevails our Will remains little more

than a mute, comatose and paralyzed witness. When the

Will however is active, the power of “kaama” then gets

channeled into our pursuit of true Vedantic

“purushArtha”.

 

“Will and Desire are thus competitors in a really long

marathon, one that goes on for years in our lives. All

the bets are on Desire (“kaama”) to win. For most of

us the Will is still in bed while our Desire is racing

away far ahead. Why? Because of our fundamental

attitude that satisfaction of desires is everything in

life and the absence of such satisfaction is the worst

of fates. Rather than our Will determining the

character and intensity of our desires, it is usually

the other way around: our Desires (“kaama”) submerge

our Will (“icchA-shakti”) and lead us to deeds that

have no really no purposeful, valuable or fulfilling

goals in life.” (Eknath Easwaran: “The Thousand Names

of Vishnu”).

 

****************

 

Earlier in this series of essays, we saw the Vedic

“chamakam” going to all the trouble of drawing up a

careful inventory of desiderata --- a very handy list

of 347 essential things in life for Man to pursue, all

strung together in 11 “anuvAkAs” of extraordinarily

beautiful poetry. We must ask why? Is it because Man

is incapable of prayer? No, it is mainly because Man

truly knows not what to petition God for. Man does not

know how to pray to the Supreme Being for truly

worthwhile or desirable things of life. Why? For the

simple reason that he is ignorant of what is

ultimately good or bad for him. And the ignorance is

really born, as it were, out of the gaping womb which

is what that great rift is between Man’s compulsive

Desire and his discriminating Will.

 

What the Vedic “chamakam” thus, in effect, seeks to do

is to make a rather arduous Vedantic task in life

considerably less daunting and difficult for us. Out

of great compassion for the human plight, the Veda

seeks to lighten the burden of us having to choose and

determine the exact predilections of our “kaama”. The

“chamakam” seeks to bridge the great chasm that there

exists between our Desire and our Will, choosing all

on our behalf and for the sake of our everlasting

benefit, the right set of Desires in life to entertain

and pursue.

 

A story in the “kausheetaki Upanishad” tells us about

a character Pratardana, a mere mortal, who earned the

goodwill of Indra, the Vedic god, whom he helped fight

the evil-gods, the Asuras. The very pleased Indra

granted Pratardana a boon and asked him to name

anything his heart desired and it would be granted.

Pratardana was a wise soul. He replied “I am a mortal

and my knowledge and judgment of what is good or bad

for me is limited and fallible. But thou art a god. So

you please choose for me yourself that which will be

of enduring benefit to man and grant me that!” On

hearing this Indra was so pleased that he taught

Pratardana the “prANa-vidya”, the esoteric knowledge

of the Self which leads to everlasting liberation.

 

In the heartfelt prayer of the “aaypaadi” girls too in

the TiruppAvai -- “maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu” -- we

hear indeed the distant but unmistakable echo of the

story of Pratardana.

 

****************

(to be continued)

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

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