A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the person who strives to satisfy such desires.”
Desire, as we modern generation believe is the only way of “successful” life. Isn’t it? Knowingly or unknowingly yes. Sadly, desire dictates our lives. Desire is the feeling of wanting something. Desires can be referred to as the waves in the ocean.
One rises and subsides over time meanwhile the other rises. The same trend is followed in the pattern of desire. One desire arises, and we try to satisfy it, and by the time it is satisfied, we have another one ready. It’s not incorrect to have intention. Intention is good, but desire has very detrimental side effects.
For example, you desire to have something to eat, maybe a chocolate, you consume it, and you think your desire to have it is satisfied but no, there always is a trigger saying one more chocolate is. This trigger gives rise to the chain of desires. In case, your desire to have a chocolate was not fulfilled, obviously that desire turns into anger in no time and we all know anger is a poison.
This doesn’t mean that one should not have desire. Practically speaking, in my case, since exams are around, I consider this to be one suitable example. Yes, preparing for an exam is equivalent to preparing for a war. No maximum preparation would give me that 100% confidence. During this preparation phase, if I desire 90+ marks, there is a high chance that I end up daydreaming of receiving some award or something from someone and waste a bulk of time. Instead, I try to set an intention of scoring 90+, always reminding myself of my intention and I can work for it, with less time and energy wasted.
Intention is the source of motivation whereas desire is source of expectation.
As per scriptures, intention is more towards sathvik energy whereas desire is more towards rajasik energy. Desire always connotes attachment to the result. Attachment towards the result is nothing but pain. If the result is positive, we have an ego that it is because of us.
Coming to the point of ego will never let us grow. It is like a huge rock placed over a sprouting seed. Unless the rock is cracked or replaced, the seed will never sprout. Ego is a fallacy that makes you think that “you know it all”. If the result is negative, we are depressed and never want to try again. This is again a trap, from smaller classes we have learned and even the most successful people on the planet believe the mantra, “Failure is the stepping stone to success”.
But we don’t believe, we ignore the fact saying, ‘Taste your own medicine’. Why are we ignorant to that fact which stands as an example? It is because we and our emotions are deeply rooted in the fruit. Instead, had we focused on nurturing the plant rightly irrespective of expectations of fruit, we would have been less hurt.
Intentions are easy to set, but difficult to work along. It is easy for everyone to say do not be attached to the results a.k.a do not desire but practically how to?
Here are a few tips:
Always consider some force of the universe higher than you
Whenever you consider some force that is higher than you (God, universe, etc.,), you will always have the feeling of surrender towards him. When you surrender to someone who is much more powerful than you, you just forget about the results. Because why fear, when god is here? You will gradually but certainly see impossible things once unveiling to you.
For example, whenever you were a kid, you messed up the room, and you were scared of what might happen, but you were not stressed or famished, because you always knew there were elders under the same roof who could help you clean this mess.
And this part of helping would be more smooth if you try cleaning some yourself. Isn’t it? Yes, this gives the way to my next point.
Always trust yourself (Have confidence within you)
Trusting your SELF is more important. Just one statement, “You have done your work” is more than enough. Personally, just this statement gives me the satisfaction of nowhere near and I don’t care about what the results are.
Trusting oneself means having confidence in yourself. That confidence should not be a disguise but it should be an internal character. Confidence should be on your face. Do not show up to any work without confidence.
Saying that there is another word, overconfidence. There is a very thin line between confidence and overconfidence, simply, confidence is the mindset of “I know it” whereas over confidence is the mindset of “I know it all”. Over confidence is a subset of desire.
Be patient
To understand patience, let’s consider the example of a tree and fruit. No matter how much you nurture the tree, you don’t get the fruit. That’s the worst thing that could happen. But always remember whatever effort you put into anything will never go to waste. There are instances in my life where I badly wanted something, and put my head over it still, it was not in my fate as something that did not even try came to me, as it was meant to be.
All these may seem miracles. But its not because it is the way how life works.
What are your desires? How are you going to overcome those? I would also like to say, do not miss Goals as your desires. Goals are something which make you live. Desires are the ones which deviates you away from goals. Be careful. And what is a goal? that’s a topic of another blog. Miss me till then.
Saying these wishing everyone a fun filled, happy day ahead, let’s not worry about what are we going to get today, instead let’s focus on what can we do today! Have a wonderful day ahead