Desire: The Motivator – The Destroyer

‘Conquer this
formidable enemy called desire’.

        Gita.

1.1     There isn’t a living human being who does
not `desire’. `Desire’ is a great motivator. It spurs us to action. Desire to
leave imprints on sands of time brought Alexander the Great to India. Desire to
conquer and rule Europe took Napoleon to Russia. `Desire’ to achieve
independence made an average person like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi attain the
status of Mahatma and Father of the Nation. Desire to succeed is the basis of
all success. Without desire, there would be no innovation / progress in
society. `Desire’ creates a leader and there has never been a leader without
desire – nay – burning desire.

          Napolean Hill says: `the starting
point of all achievement is desire’.

1.2     Desire is a great motivator.
However, desire for power also blinds and leads to destruction. Hence, where
desire builds, it also destroys. Desire at times is invincible and consumes the
individual.  For example – desire for
one’s beloved makes an individual blind to consequences – for instance – Romeo
and Juliet, Heer Ranja, and others sacrificed their lives and embraced death
over life. Above all the desire to seek God within and without is elevating and
causes communion between the created and the Creator.

1.3     R.B. Athreya says :

       `I cannot desire something about which
I have no idea. I cannot work for something for which I have no desire’. Hence,
knowledge – nay – awareness is necessary of what one desires.

2.1     As normal mortals, in addition to the
desire to succeed at work we have several desires, some of these are: desire to
be a good family person, child, spouse, parent and friend. We also desire to be
constructive contributors to Society. Whereas desire to accumulate is
self-serving desire to serve in self-sharing. Above all, we have `desire’ to
love and be loved.

2.2     The fact of life is that one cannot and
does not live without `desire’ till one’s last breath. Mind is always in the
state of `desire’. Hence, the problem is `desire’ and we seek freedom from
desire.

          J. Krishnamurti states, for freedom
from desire – `it is essential to understand the problem for the answer is in
the problem’.

3.       Desire is equally a destroyer if the
means are not correct. Hitler had the desire of uniting Europe – a desire and
dream which was realised by the creation of EU – but his means were not
correct. It led to the world war, which devasted Europe, impacted five
continents, led to death of thousands and Hitler himself. Desire to learn the
truth about weapons of mass destruction led to atrocities of Abu Ghraib in Iraq
which tarnished the image of the ‘liberator’ U.S.A. Again, desire for Monica
scarred Clinton’s presidency and nearly destroyed his family life. Duryodhan’s
desire to deprive Pandvas of what was their’s led to Mahabharat and destroyed a
lineage. On the other hand, Arjun’s desire to understand human behaviour gave
the world knowledge of all times – Gita.

3.1     Desire makes or mars a man. Desire is like
breath – it is neither good nor bad – but its character depends on our thoughts
as our actions are based on our thoughts. Hence, change the character of desire
from revenge to forgiveness, from hate to love and from accumulation to sharing
from me and mine to us.

3.2     ‘Desire’ for peace led to the establishment
of ‘United Nations’. UNO provides a platform for leaders of nations to voice
their views, avoid war and discuss and resolve issues. Though strife continues,
nations play cold war but UNO has one achievement to its credit: there has been
no war between the acknowledged powers of the world.

3.3     Desire dominates and imprisons us. The
irony is that we accept it consciously or unconsciously. Desire makes us live
in the past or future. Thus we forget and forgo pleasures of the present
without realising that present is all we have. Desire creates a veil
between man and God. Unfulfilled desire leads to despair and desperation. We
are consumed by desires. Hence the issue is: Is ‘desire’ bad! The answer
is No because nothing good or bad happens without desire’. All
actions are motivated by desire.

          Emerson advises : ‘Be aware of what
you want for you will get it’.

3.4     Sadhu Vaswani says ‘dance of desires is the
dance of death’. He is right because when man, men or nations harbour the
desire to dominate others it leads to conflict. When we seek revenge, are
jealous or envious, our actions are based on self-aggrandisement. However, the
desire to serve, to love, to convert strife into harmony, to educate and uplift
others are ‘desires’ which elevate a human being into a saint and brings him
close to God. These desires backed by action will bring peace and harmony in
family and society. The author reiterates that ‘desire’ per se is not
bad but it is the nature of desire we harbor that matters. It is the intent
from which desire emanates and the action based thereon that is relevant to
living a happy life and happiness is all we seek – so let us convert our ‘self
– centered’ desires into desires to serve and share. I am fully conscious
of the good old metaphor that ‘charity begins at home’– so let us start with
sharing in the family and convert sharing with kutambh into ‘vasudev
kutambh’.

4.1     According to ‘Gita’: desire is the basis of
attachment, anger, infatuation, loss of reason and destruction. It is only by
giving up desire one    achieves
salvation.

5.1     The sage in Ashtavakra Gita says :

          ‘One who desires worldly pleasures and
the one who desires to renounce them stand on the same footing, for they both
nurture desire’.                                                   

5.2     What a contradiction – a paradox and an
enigma – because desire for salvation – nirvana – is also a desire. In other
words, even desire not to have desire is desire. However, Rousseau advises :

           ‘that man is truly free who desires what he is able to perform, and does what he
desires.’

6.1     The issue is : can desires be
satisfied.

          Desire creates longings for
possessions and can never be satisfied. Desires make beggars of ‘man’. There is
always longing for more. But it can be managed – and by His grace
eliminated.

6.2     The question which arises is :

          Can
desire for good also be given up !

7.1     The answer is yes – because
according to our scriptures even desire for Nirvana binds – and that is why
Gita calls desire a great enemy because      ultimate
freedom  comes from a mind free from
‘desires’.

7.2     I would conclude by quoting Steve Allen’s
answer  to the question –

          ‘If you were given a
wish fulfilling well, what would you wish for !

          ‘To stop wishing’

Author’s note :