Fwd: Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-34

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-34

 

Eliminating desires

 

49 The divine Padam says: " Desiring something, [imagining it]

to be wonderful, is the conduct of the ignorant ego-ghost " .

 

50 Those ignorant people who are itching for the desire for

this illusory life are whirling in the life of the cremation ground.

 

51 Evil desire, a pit that can never be filled, is what plunges

your life into a poverty that can never be over come.

 

Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 371, Pozhippurai: Before attaining a

desired object, intense desire makes even an atom appear to be a

huge mountain. However, when the desired object is attained, in

total contrast, the huge mountain appears to be an atom. As strong

desires keep us forever impoverished, we have not seen anywhere a

bottomless abyss that is as impossible to fill as avaricious

desires, which can never be satisfied.

 

Vilakkam: Tiruvalluvar also says, " desire whose nature is such that

it can never be satisfied " . As true wealth is only contentment of

mind, when that contentment is absent, no one can pull himself out

of poverty and become wealthy, irrespective of how much money he

earns.

 

52 A heart in which the kamya buddhi [a mind that desires

particular results] has departed and which possesses the auspicious

and excellent nishkamya buddhi [a mind that lacks desires for

results] will be the home of bliss.

 

53 The state of rest that shines when all desire has ceased is

the powerful experience of Vedanta.

 

54 If the six illusory enemies, beginning with desire, that

mingle in your heart are totally destroyed, the extremely clear

light of jnana (direct knowledge of the reality that is the Self)

will shine.

 

The six enemies are desire, anger, greed, delusion, intoxication and

envy.

 

Question: What is the true meaning of renunciation " Subjugation of

lust, passion, greed, etc. is common to all and forms the essential,

preliminary step for any course. Does not freedom from passions

indicate renunciation?

 

Bhagavan: You have said it all. Your question contains the answer

also. Freedom from passions is the essential prerequisite. When that

is accomplished, all else is accomplished.

 

Question: How am I to deal with my passions? Am I to check them or

satisfy them? If I follow Bhagavan's method and ask, " To whom are

these passions? " they do not seem to die but grow stronger.

 

Bhagavan: That only shows that your are not going about my method

properly. The right way is to find out the root of all passions, the

source whence they proceed, and get rid of that. If you check the

passions, they may get suppressed for the moment, but will appear

again. If you satisfy them, they will be satisfied only for the

moment and will again crave satisfaction. Satisfying desires and

thereby trying to root them out is like trying to quench fire by

pouring kerosene over it. The only way is to find the root of desire

and thus remove it.

 

55 If you drive out and eliminate the demons of desire and so

on, what then becomes one with you is the treasure house pf

liberation.

 

Question: What is the best way of dealing with desires, with a view

to getting rid of them-satisfying them or suppressing them?

 

Bhagavan: If a desire can be got rid of by satisfying it, there will

be no harm in satisfying such a desire. But desires generally are

not eradicated by satisfaction. Trying to root them out that way is

like pouring spirits to quench fire. At the same time, the proper

remedy is not forcible suppression, since such repression is bound

to react sooner or later into forceful surging up with undesirable

consequences. The proper way to get rid of a desire is to find

out, " Who gets the desire? What is its source? " When this is found,

the desire is rooted out and it will never again emerge or grow.

Small desires such as the desire to eat, drink and sleep and attend

to calls of nature, though these may also be classed among desires,

you can safely satisfy. They will not implant vasanas (mental

tendencies; the latent desires and feelings that compel one to

behave in a particular way) in your mind, necessitating further

birth. Those activities are just necessary to carry on life and are

not likely to develop or leave behind vasanas or tendencies. As a

general rule, therefore, there is no harm in satisfying a desire

where the satisfaction will not lead to further desires by creating

vasanas in the mind.

 

56 This [vision of the Self] will only be encountered by those

who are free of the delusion of desire, and not by those whose

corrupted minds are full of desires for sense objects.

 

Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 149: The non-dual experience will only be

attained by those who have completely given up desires. For those

with desires, it is extremely far away. Hence it is proper for those

with desires to direct their desires towards God, who is desireless,

so that through desire for God their deluding desires become extinct.

 

57 A heart that has been usurped by the demon of powerful

desires, which are vile attachments, is a home for miseries that

will stream forth like winged white ants from their hole.

 

58 If everything is perceived as the one consciousness alone,

there will not be even the tiniest amount of yearning in your mind.

 

Question: How can they [desires] be rendered weaker?

 

Bhagavan: By knowledge. You know that you are not the mind. The

desires are in the mind. Such knowledge helps one to control them.

 

Question: But they are not controlled in our practical lives.

 

Bhagavan: Every time you attempt satisfaction of a desire the

knowledge comes that it is better to desist. What is your true

nature? How can you ever forget it? Waking, dream and sleep are mere

phases of the mind. They are not the Self. You are the witness of

these states. Your true nature is found in sleep.

 

Bhagavan: There is room for kama [desire] so long as there is an

object apart from the subject, i.e., duality. There can be no desire

if there is no object. The state of no-desire is moksha

(liberation). There is no duality in sleep and also no desire.

Whereas there is duality in the waking state and desire also is

there. Because of duality a desire arises for the acquisition of the

object. That is the outgoing mind, which is the basis of duality and

desire. If one knows that bliss is none other than the Self the mind

becomes inward turned. If the Self is gained all the desires are

fulfilled.

 

59 The proliferation of desires in life results from the spread

of worldly attachments, which is in turn the devastating consequence

of forgetting one's true nature.

 

60 It is a wonder that the jiva (the individual self) gets

destroyed like a moth in the flame of evil sense objects, with the

goal of unlimited desire becoming its ruin.

 

61 By destroying the concepts of the mind, the desires that

accumulate in worldly life-a life that is unnatural and born out of

delusion- will be destroyed.

 

62 A mind that is greatly agitated by the winds of desire will

find peace for a while through thinking about God.

 

NOTE: TAKEN FROM " PADAMALAI " , EDITED BY DAVID GODMAN, PAGES 240 TO

243

 

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