"maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu" - (PART 12)

[Guest guest]

The cycle of “kaama”

-------------------

 

“kaama” breeds “kaama”, Desire begets more Desire. In

much the same way as we know bacteria to be the most

productive farmer of more bacteria, Vedanta tells us

that “kaama” too ploughs, plants, harvests, feeds upon

and multiplies its own self in an endless cycle of

mutation and proliferation.

 

The Bhagavath-gita is one of the earliest Vedantic

texts to explain the cyclical, self-perpetuating

nature of “kaama”. In 2 succinct verses the Gita dealt

with both the etiology and pathology of human “kaama”.

 

“dhyAyathO vishyAnpumsah: sanghasthEshUpajAyathE I

sanghAthsamjAyathE kAmah:kAmAth-krOdhO’bhijAyathEII

(B.Gita II.62)

 

“krOdhAdh-bhavati sammOhah:

sammOhAth-smriti-vibhramah:

smriti-bhramshAdh buddhi nAshO buddhinAshAth

pranashyathi II

(B.Gita II.63)

(meaning):

 

“To a man obsessed with objects of sensory Pleasure,

there arises attachment to them; from such attachment

arises desire, and from desire arises anger. From

anger arises delusion; from delusion, the loss of

sensibility; from loss of sensibility, the impairment

of moral discrimination; and with moral discrimination

impaired, total degradation of personality becomes a

certainty”.

 

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

 

In theory, “kaama” is known to be single distinct or

discrete human passion. It is commonly associated with

the erotic urge in Man. But actually “kaama” is a

pandemic emotional state not limited to sexuality

alone. It is more a chronic syndrome of human emotions

revealed in a variety of human behavior. It is really

a cycle of several emotional states each overlapping

the other and kept perpetually in motion through

self-generated momentum.

 

"Kaama" is a sort of ferris-wheel of desires, geared

by complex human urges going forwards and backwards,

many times over and over again, taking the human mind

along with it on a roller-coaster journey through

life. “Kaama” is not an emotional flash-point in the

life of a man. It is more like a slow and chronic

wasting disease caused by a deadly, invisible

parasite.

 

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

 

The Vedantic theory behind the psychology of “kaama”

is a very simple and elegant one. But it is also a

mordant and accurate commentary on the universal human

condition.

 

Let us quickly summarize the theory:

 

(a) The root of “kaama”, says the Gita, lies not in a

person’s mind. It lies in the myriad objects of

delight and pleasure that abound in the world. They

generate or arouse a variety of tantalizing sensations

and titillating impressions by invading a person's

senses. The invasion then takes complete possession of

the Mind.

 

Once the Mind is overpowered “kaama” gradually

paralyzes the Will. Once the human Will goes into

coma, “kAma” manifests itself as deep, raging and

uncontrollable appetite for promiscuous

self-gratification. This selfish appetite must be

whetted no matter what. It is a compulsion. And the

only way to do so is indulgence, at any cost. This is

precisely the way that man’s state of attachment (or

enchantment, beguilement, inebriation, enamor etc.) is

ushered in. In plain and simple language, “kaama” is

abject human bondage to the Pleasure-Principle of

life.

 

It is precisely such indulgence in “kaama” that modern

Consumerism, the Faith that today rules the entire

world, lustily cheers and promotes. “Have a good

time”, “Feel good”, “Just do it!”, “Life is for

enjoyment! Have fun!”, “Chill out! It’s Saturday night

out!” etc. are just a few of the oft-broadcasted

messages constantly dinned into our collective

sub-conscious by the “high-priests of Consumerism”

viz.: the advertising and mass-communication media.

Through alluring market-place promotions and seductive

slogans, refined and perfected as creative art-form

over several decades of the last century, these

“high-priests of marketing” have achieved truly

fantastic success throughout the world in their

mission to apotheosize commonplace commercial jingles,

glorifying the “Feel good factor” or the “’Have-fun’

habit” in life, into sacred mantras of abiding faith

for peoples of the world.

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

 

(b) “krOdha”: Not all sensual appetites can be whetted

at all times. Many of our desires cannot be satisfied

so easily. Un-fulfilled “kaama” inevitably leads to

“krOdha” i.e. frustrated Desire or longing that is

accompanied by feelings of anger, resentment,

impatience, deprivation and disenfranchisement in

life.

 

If there is so much anger and hatred around the world

today, it is chiefly because people are unable to

satisfy many of their deepest desires in life, big and

small. While the Consumerist faith does indeed inspire

everyone with the dazzling promise of “Fun-in-life”

Ideal, it cannot, however, provide everyone with the

necessary means to attain it. And it is precisely that

yawning gap between inspiration and realization,

between desire and fulfillment that is the source of

all anger, resentment, frustration and self-loathing

amongst people in the world.

 

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

 

© “mOha”: When desires (“kaama”) in life are not

sated, disappointment builds up. When the steam of

disappointment swells, the engine of Anger (“krOdha”)

cranks up. Pent-up anger in a person invariably leads

to “mOha”, an unhinged mental state where he/she gets

increasingly out-of-touch with reality. When one loses

touch with reality, one begins to suffer rapid loss of

capacity for right-thinking and right-resolution. (In

modern clinical psychology this state of mind is

usually associated with the condition called “severe

manic depression” which, in most cases, is traced to

mental disorders caused by deep-seated, pent-up anger

and disappointment with oneself for not being able to

fulfill desires). Perverse attitudes then quickly

begin to seep into one’s personality, deeply warping

and corroding one’s sense of life-values.

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

 

(d) “lObha”: A mind so deeply afflicted with “mOha”,

Vedanta tells us, is soon overtaken by yet another

feeling that comes rolling along quickly on the

syndromic cycle of “kaama”. This one is called “lObha”

–- greed, unbridled lust, avarice.

 

Lust within Man’s heart represents the final triumph

of human Desire over human Will. It is the critical

state of mind a person reaches when he or she becomes

utterly insensitive to moral imperatives in life. The

eternal ethical question in Life, whether the “End

justifies the Means”, becomes utterly irrelevant to

him/her. The End as represented in the object/objects

of personal desire, by whatever means realized,

becomes supreme goal in life. It is the moment when

the person begins to believe with all the conviction

at his command that Pleasure -- “kaama” – indeed is

absolute ideal in itself, justifying and overriding

any Means.

 

The great Tamil saint of India “Tirumangai AzhwAr” who

led a life of excess before he changed ways and became

a God-realized soul (“AzhwAn”), sang of the many ways

in which he wasted away his youthful days while in

search of the pleasures yielded in “kaama”. In the

very first poem of his great collection of mystical

Tamil outpourings called “peria-tirumOzhi”, the AzhwAr

spoke in heart-rending verses of the “lObha”, or lust,

that had gripped him in the days of youthful folly.

 

“venRiyE vENdi veezhporut_kirangi* vERkaNaar kalaviyE

karudhi*

nNinRavaa nNillaa neNYchinaiyudaiyEn* en_seygEn?”

 

(“peria-tirumOzhi” 1.1.4)

 

(meaning): “I stooped to the lowest ways, went

everywhere and did the grossest things, Oh! just to

slake my gross appetites!”

 

The Bhagavath-Gita too described such a state of mind

described by Tirumangai-AzhwAr, seized as his was by

“lObha”, in one apothegmatic “shlOka”:

 

“lobhaH pravR^ittiraarambhaH karmaNaamashamaH spR^ihaa

..

rajasyetaani jaayante vivR^iddhe bharatarshhabha ..

B.Gita 14\.12..

 

“O chief of the Bhâratas, when there is a surge in the

symptoms of great attachment, what follows then is

frenzied activity, intense endeavor, an uncontrollable

lust and hankering.”

 

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

 

(e) Whenever “lObha”, lust, is satisfied, feelings of

extreme exultation follow. When Desire’s triumph over

Will is completed, it cannot help indulging in a bit

of gloating, a bit of self-congratulation and

vainglory. A person then usually turns arrogant,

haughty and conceited. This new transformation of

personality is what is called “madha”. When “kaama”

preens its feathers one may easily recognize its

colors to be the signs of “madha”.

 

Once again, in the soul-stirring words of

Tirumangai-AzhwAr are eloquently described the state

of a mind that is gripped by “madha”:

 

“kaLvanEnaanEn padiRuseidhiruppEn* kaNdavaa

dhirithanNdhEnElum*” 1.1.5

 

(meaning):”I became a dissolute tyrant! I always had

my way, come what may! I’d brook no obstacle standing

in the way! I went wherever Pleasure led me, and none

dared stop me!”

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

 

(f) “mAtsarya”: Those who are vainglorious i.e. they

that are in the grip of “madha”, often slip into envy,

“mAtsarya”.

 

The vainglorious are always jealous of those they

perceive to be their superiors. They simply cannot

rest content with their lot but constantly covet the

power and prestige of those more exalted than

themselves. This is another form of extreme “kaama”,

and what in the modern day is often recognized as

“overweening ambition” in a person. The ancient Greeks

had another special name for it –- they called it

“hubris”. It is, in fact, a very advanced form of the

rabid human affliction called

“keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” syndrome. This sort of

ambition is an extremely pathological form of “kaama”

--- the sort that does not let a person rest content

with satisfying one’s own desires but urges him/her on

to adopt the desires of others too as one’s very own,

and makes them slaves of those too!

 

Tirumangai-AzhwAr beautifully captured the mood of one

who has simply lost his mind to “mAtsarya”:

 

“kaRRilEn kalaigaL aimbulan karudhum* karutthuLE

thirutthinEn manatthai*

peRRilEn adhanaal pEdhaiyEn nNanmai* perunNilatthaar

uyirkellaam*” 1.1.8

 

(meaning): “Oh! What a moral illiterate I was, and

abject slave to my wild senses that led me everywhere

chasing one desire after another after another!”

 

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

 

(g) “bhaya”: By the time a man has traversed the cycle

of the full spectrum of feelings of “kaama”

--- beginning with attachment, “kaama”, “krOdha”,

“mOha”, “lObha”, “madha” and “mAtsarya”

--- it is certain his whole personality has been

severely ravaged. The mind is ripe and ready then to

be possessed now by Fear, “bhaya”.

 

“Bhaya” manifests itself in personal behavior

characterized by deep insecurities, restiveness, a

nagging but nameless sense of loss etc.

 

When a man is afflicted with such “bhaya” he fears

that his deepest desires may not get fulfilled before

the curtains drop on his lifetime. His greatest fear

--- dark fear hidden deep within the cavern of the

human sub-conscious –-- is he may simply pass away

from this world before having experienced all of its

alluring delights and seductive pleasures. To him hell

itself is nothing but untimely death befalling him

before the burning thirst for Pleasure has been fully

slaked.

 

It is precisely this sort of “kaama” that is known to

often afflict some persons in the twilight of their

lives when, knowing that their time on earth is

nearing its end, they suddenly turn berserk and go all

out to enjoy to the very hilt, in a sort of mad binge,

all the sensual pleasures they had probably denied

themselves earlier, and all with a vengeance or gusto

quite unbecoming of their age.

 

It is in that fateful moment that "bhaya" and "kaama"

come together in a tight coital embrace, and when the

cycle of “kaama” too gets a fresh lease of momentum,

and signalling, as it were, the birth of another

desire inside the human heart....

 

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

 

And so, indeed, revolves the great inexorable cycle of

life called “kaama”, where man's desires endlessly

mutate and multiply, all in an endless stream of

cosmic continuum... And wherein Man is but mere

hapless, enmeshed cog.

 

It is from falling into such a terrible “cycle of

“kaama”” that the “aaypAdi” girls of the TiruppAvai

too sought protection from God Almighty when they sang

their immortal call of prayer, “maRRai nam kaamangaL

maaRRu”.

 

(to be continued)

 

Regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

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