We often think that our wishes and aspirations are the main cause of pain and sorrow in life and thus all spiritual gurus advocate people to be free from them. For peace, one needs to be free from all kinds of desires and remain content with whatever one has.
While it is true that desire can cause pain and sorrow in life, we must also realise that there are certain wishes that bring happiness and joy in life. We must be able to clearly distinguish between wishes that bring pain and the ones that lead to joy. It is important that we know as to what kind of desires can cause pain and what kind of desires can give happiness.
Desires which give pain and sorrow are:
- The desire to acquire more and more materialistic things — wealth, name, fame, position, status, reputation, riches, self- respect etc. When it is fulfilled, it leads to new desires; when it remains unfulfilled, it leads to disappointment. One is never satisfied with what one has and never reaches a level of contentment.
- The desire to be free from pain, sorrows, adverse situations, bad luck, troubles and the desire to be away from people who give pain and sorrow.
- The desire to always get favourable result for all efforts, actions, reactions, activities. In this creation, there is no rule that every desire will be fulfilled and that too within a given time frame. That’s why there is always a component of disappointment and sorrow in the desire to acquire something or the other in the world.
Desires which give joy, peace, happiness and salvation are:
- The desire to be “desireless”: One is content with what one has and does not want to acquire anything more. In fact, one is grateful to the God for whatever He has given and uses the available resources in helping others, uplifting the downtrodden, serving poor and aged, promoting and protecting nature, religious sentiments etc.
- The desire for everybody’s happiness, success, health, wealth, growth, prosperity, harmony. One does not like even one’s enemies to suffer in any way and one is always in a mode of forgiving and seeking forgiveness. Prayers for everybody’s well being is the most important aspect of life. “Loka samasta, sukhino bhavantu” means, may all beings in this world live happily.
- The desire for salvation, liberation and enlightenment — to be free from the vicious cycle of karma and from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
These three desires are godly desires and divine in nature, hence are the givers of peace, happiness and eventually liberation. Even God helps fulfil these three desires.
Sri Rameshji is a modern age spiritual guru and founder of Poorna Ananda, a centre for spiritual evolution and joyful living
