UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS - Swami Tejomayananda - 10

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10. Desire

 

Let us take a closer look at desire. Is it good or bad? Desire for

self-purification and spiritual unfoldment elevates us, but self-

indulgent desires only bring us down. The desire for fulfilment of

our basic needs does not create a problem. Difficulty arises the

moment it takes the form of greed. Why is this so? It is because

desires are many and the objects of desires are few. Therefore there

is struggle, conflict and competition -- it may be called healthy

competition but it is still competition. Today's business motto seems

to be, " Kill or get killed. " If, on the other hand, the accepted

principles were, " Live and let live, " there would not been any

problem.

 

Let us, therefore, not create the division of positive and negative.

Understand that it is one and the same force taking different forms.

When we criticize someone too much, it appears as hatred, yet, in

fact, we consider that person important. Somewhere deep in our hearts

there may be admiration for the person or perhaps we wanted to be

like that person, or maybe someone else is showing too much attention

to that individual and it bothers us. Conversely our mind can become

bitter if we are on the receiving end of the criticism. In that case

let us take the attitude, " I will not become bitter. I will become

better! " If we received criticism let us try to think, " This shows

that the person cares for me and wants me to become perfect. He can't

bear to see any weakness, or imperfection in me, so I thank him! "

This way our attitude becomes very different; granted this is not

always easy. Love, compassion, consideration and concern -- all these

qualities are said to be positive, but we are unable to put them into

practice for we have created many divisions.