3 April 1997
Chapter 1 - The You That You Want To Change
Day 4 - Desires
Desires for sensory pleasure are electric in nature and these desires 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 centre 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 electricity. Dedication and devotion maintain the purity of your electricity,
moving you upward. When you realize you yourself are the
electricity of pleasure, your cravings subside and serenity dawns.
Also, remembering that you will die makes you alive now, and frees you from cravings and aversions. The wise ones are always careful not to get their minds entangled and dizzy. This couplet needs to be pondered over and over - a whole lifetime is not sufficient to digest this knowledge.
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 ever born, never has it happened before and never will it happen in the future.
When your small mind gets tired of running here and there, of wandering everywhere, it reaches the conclusion, My desires have killed my happiness". A person who has conquered his desires is called "Mahavira". 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 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 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.
