WHEN YOU LOOK INTO THE NATURE OF DISIRE

Whenever you desire something, you become tense. The desire creates disturbance. Whenever you desire something, of course, you desire in the future. In the present, how can you desire? There is not enough space for a desire to exist in the future.

Desiring can only be concerned with something in the future, with something which is not here. That which is here cannot be desired. You can be delight in it, you can dance it, but you cannot desire it.

We turn everything into a goal. Put anything into the mind; It immediattely reduces it into a goal and the problem arises immediately. And then the mind asks, "How?" How to achieve this, how to get it, how to become it? Again you are on the tracks; Again you have missed.

Look into your desiring. Understand your desire and the futility of it. Look deeply into it, penetrate deeply into it, and that very penetration will help - "desire disappears".

When you can see the total futility of desire, you will ask how to drop it? If you see the totality of it, it drops by itself. You go on asking how, because you still want to cling. You still want to postpone it. You still think there must be something in it. "Maybe I am missing, maybe I am not making right efforts, maybe I am not moving in the right direction - But there is something."... You are still hoping.

When "you look into the nature of desire" :

You will understand that it is like a horizon. It appears far away, there. Go, move - it moves with you. When you reach the point where you were thinking that the earth meets the sky, it is not meeting there. Again, at the same farther distance, the horizon exists. Again move - The horizon moves with you. The distance between you and the horizon remains constantly the same.

If you look into desire, it is simple to see. If you meditate on desire, this is a fact; This is not a theory about desire.

Suppose you have ten thousand dollars, the mind asks for twenty thousand dollars. The mind says; "Unless you have twenty thousand dollars, how can you live happily? It is impossible." You can get twenty thousand dollars. You will waste a long time for it; One day you will get it. By the time you have got twenty thousand dollars, the desire has gone further away. Now it asks for fourty thousands dollars.

By the time you attain to twenty thousand dollars, you have become more addicted to comforts; Now more comforts are needed - Now "the old house looks small, the old car looks an insult; It has to be dropped. A new car is needed. By the time you reach fourty thousand line, the horizon has gone further away - It demands eighty thousand. It goes on doubting. The distance remains the same."

Please imbibe:
Between the desire and the fulfillment, the distance remains the same. It never changes, not even for a single inch. "The beggar and the empror are always in the same plight".

If you look at the distance between their desire and fulfillment, "you will see they are sailing in the same boat."

Once understood desire drops by itself, on its own accord. Not that you drop it - So the question of "how?" never arises. And when desire drops, "there is desirelessness". Not that you have to make efforts for it to be there; Not that you have to work hard to gain desirelessness. It is not a goal.

Please remember!

"When desires disappear... The absence of desire is desirelessness."

Let me say it in another way. Ordinarily whenever the word
'desirelessness' is used, you think it is against desire. It is not.
'Desirelessness' is 'not the opposite of 'desire'. Desirelessness is simply the absence of desire, not the opposite. If it is the opposite, then it can become the goal. It is not the opposite, you cannot make it a goal out of it.

'Love' is 'not opposite to hate', if love is opposite to hate, in that love, hate will go on continuing, an undercurrent of hatred will go on flowing. The authentic love is not opposite to hate.

'Compassion' is 'not against anger'. When anger disappears, compassion is. Compassion is not to be fought for; It is not against passion. When passion disappears, compassion is. Compassion is your nature.

A desiring mind is a tense mind. A seeking mind is not at rest. A desiring mind is not at home.... Always wandering, wandering, going somewhere.

If I come to you, do you think I will find you there? You may be somewhere else. You are always somewhere else. Wherever you seem to be, you are not there. If you are sitting in the mosque, Temple or Church, your appearence only in the mosque... But you may be in the market, you may be in the shop or in the office or in the factory. When you are sitting in your office or in your shop, only your appearence is there - You appear to be there. Your mind may be anywhere; The world is so vast.

When I talk about desirement, I am simply stating a fact about your being. I am not giving you a goal to be desired. Please understand...

"Your treasure is with you. Your treasure is already within you. So, put aside your desirement."

Do not go after wealth and possession, my friends! With good sense, control your desire. What you get is the result of your actions?

It is natural in daily life to have a desire for certain necessities and comforts. Among the necessities for daily living.
There are most essential:
"Food for sustenance, garments to wear and shelter for dwelling."

The desire for these is natural for men. Even in this there are two kinds of desires:

One is natural. The other is excessive and misdirected desire.
"I want a house," is a legitimate desire and one should seek it. But it is greedy to possess two or more houses.

Today greed is more prevalent among men than desire for necessities. With the result that man is afflicted with grief and worry. He has become a stranger to contentment. He is steeped in discontent on account of insatiable desires.

The other meaning of the 'world desire is 'thirst'. Whenever one is thirsty, one has to drink water. When will this thirst end? Thirst will not end as long as life lasts. Even at the moment of death people feel thirsty.

How is the thirst (for material things) to be quenched? It is possible through the flux of time to get rid of iron shackles when they get rusty, but it is not easy to get rid of desire.

"Desire is the cause of limitless desires."

If desires are fulfilled, one's ego gets inflated. If they are not realized hatred develops.

Please note:

"The wealth will not accompany us when we give up the body", and please remember!

"If wealth is lost, it can be regained."
"If strength is lost, it may be recovered."
"But life is lost it, cannot be got back."

"Man today is trying to master every kind of knowledge, but unable to discover his own true nature." By conquering the worlds are may become the supreme sovereign over them. But one who has mastered his senses, is supreme over all rulers. He is the King of Kings, the Kingmaker.

If you are a slave of desire, you are the slave of the world. If you have conquered desire.... The world will be at your feet.



From Empty Hands,
A. Rahman bin Mahadi
Labis, Johore
016-6020321

14 OGOS 2010 (Ramadhan)
Next Topic: 1. "Memahami Konsep Bai'ah - Perjalanan Dan Sejarahnya"

2. "The Body The Senses Is Marvelous. It Is The Greatest Of Mysteries"