Share the Wisdom of Sri Sri Ravishankarji - 2.

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Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

Share the wisdom of His holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

 

2. DESIRES

 

Desires for sensory pleasure are electric in nature and these desired get

neutralized as they move towards the object of your senses.

 

If, by your skill, you could move your desires deeper within you towards the

center of your existence, another dimension of everlasting pleasure, thrill,

bliss and undying love will be yours. Lust, greed, power and jealousy are

powerful because they are nothing but energy and you are the source of it ---the

pure of electricity, moving you upward.

 

Once you realize that you are pleasure or electricity, your cravings subside

and serenity dawns. Remembering that you will die makes you alive now, and

frees you from cravings and aversions.

 

Desire kills joy yet the goal of all desires is joy. Whenever happiness has

disappeared from your life, look deep within and you will see it is because of

desire.

 

Yet all that we desire is happiness. No creature desiring unhappiness is over

born; never has it happened before land never will it happen in the futures.

 

When your small mind gets tired of running here and there, of wandering

everywhere, it reaches the conclusion, “My desires have killed my happiness.”

 

All desires are for happiness. That is the goal of desire, isn’t it? But how

often does your desire lead you to the goal? Have you thought about nature of

desire? It simply means tomorrow, and not now. Thought about the nature of

desire? It simply means tomorrow, and not now. But joy is never tomorrow, it is

always now.

 

How can you have desires when you are joyful? And how can you really be joyful

right now when you have desires? Desire appears to lead you to happiness, but in

fact it cannot. That is why desire is Maya—illusion.

 

How does a desire arise? A desire arises with the memory of a pleasant

experience or with the past impressions. A desire might also arise through

listening. A desire can be triggered through association with certain people or

certain places. Someone else’s need or desire may manifest in you as your own

desire. When someone is hungry, you might have a desire to feed them, or if

someone wants to talk with you, a spontaneous desire may arise in you to talk

with them.

 

Destiny or a happening in which you have a part to play, any trigger a desire

but you will not be aware of the reason for your actions. For example, a

gentleman in Quebec, Canada built roads and worked on a farm for 30 years, not

knowing for what ---the farm was destined to become our Montreal Ashram and the

roads he built are the roads we use now.

 

Desires arise on their own without asking you. And when they come, what do you

do with them if you say that you don’t want any desires, then that want becomes

another desire.

 

Here is a clue for you; if you want to go for a movie, you have to buy a

ticket and this ticket must be given to the doorman. If you hold on to the

ticket, how can you go in? Similarly, if you want to be admitted to the college,

you must complete an application form and submit it. You cannot hold on to it.

 

Likewise on the journey of Life, you have to keep submitting your desired and

not hold on to them. As you keep submitting your desires, fewer desires arise.

 

Unfortunate are those who keep on desiring yet their desires are not

fulfilled. A little more fortunate are those whose desires get fulfilled over a

long period of time. More fortunate are those whose desires get fulfilled as

soon as they arise. The most fortunate are those who have no desires because

there is fulfillment even before the desire arises.

 

Buddha said that desire is the cause of all misery. If your desire does not

get fulfilled, it leads to frustration and causes misery. And if your desire

does not get fulfilled, it leaves you empty.

 

Vasista said that desire is the cause of pleasure. You get pleasure from an

object or a person only when you desire them. When you do not desire and object

you will not get pleasure from it. When you are hot and thirsty a sip of cold

water gives you pleasure; but there is no pleasure if you are not thirsty.

Whatever gives you pleasure binds you and bondage is misery.

 

I tell you, when you desire truth, all the other desires drop off. You always

desire something that is not there but truth is always there. Desire for truth

removes all other desires; then it dissolves and what remains is bliss.

 

Your desires and sankalpas --- or intensions ---separate you from God. Offer

all your desires and all your sankalpas to the Divine. Then you are divine. You

are God. You are free lacking nothing.

 

Pleasure and pain are intense sensations in this body. When we are not caught

up in pleasure or pain, we can truly and sincerely say “ I belong to you.” That

is when all cravings and aversions, desires and doubts fall off –and in a moment

the world belongs to you.

 

All your miseries surround the “I, I, I…” ---“I want this, I like that, I do

not like this” Just let go. Remember - the sun rises and sets, the grass grows,

the river flows, the moon shines and I am here forever.

 

To be continued… 3.

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.