No slavery to desire

Our mind is filled with desires and we want to fulfill them all. Some of our desires are good and while other are bad. Any desire fulfillment makes us strong, in body, mind and spirit. AK Bhargava writes.

Our mind is filled with desires and we want to fulfill them all. Some of our desires are good and while other are bad. Any desire fulfillment makes us strong, in body, mind and spirit.

HT Image

But there are desires that make us weaker either physically, morally, emotionally and spiritually. The desires which make us weaker in the long run are more attractive powerful. Like the junk food, such desires tempt us more.

How desires develop? Tyaganand says, “Imagine a container filled with water put on a heater. After a while, bubbles start rising. Now visualise our mind in the form of a container and desires as bubbles. Desires need some trigger mechanism such as mental impressions called ‘Sanskaras’. So every thought that comes up, leaves an impression in the mind and all these impressions are stored in the mind. We are aware of only the top 10% of the container which is the conscious part. The balance of 90% is the subconscious part. All the impressions are stored in these parts of which we are not always aware unless they come to conscious part”.

Now imagine the doctor has forbidden us from eating ice-cream. So when the impression comes up, the ‘will’ detaches itself from this desire remembering the doctor’s advice. Without ‘will’, the desire can’t stay by itself and it goes back to the unconscious mind and stops bothering us.

The Yogis dive deep into their mind and are able to nip desires in the bud before they start deeply. They do not allow desires to become powerful enough for translating into action.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is to remember that attachment to desires leads to bondage and detachment makes us free and happy. Have your desire by all means, but no attachments, please.