It cannot be denied that the humans are ruled by various kinds of desires that could either be beneficial or destructive to our spiritual life. There are different types of desires as we live our daily lives. Some of them are to be developed and others restrained or curbed for a genuine and holistic development of the person. The desires unobtrusively to be developed are called fundamental desires present in everyone and yet covered up by our topical desires. The three fundamental desires universally present are : the desire to live a day more ( 'Sat' or the desire to go on existing), the desire for knowledge ('Chit' or the desire to know) and the desire to be happy ('Ananda' or the desire to be always joyful). This is 'Sachidananda' or the Absolute present in everyone and everything covered up by our desires for particular objects called topical desires. We actually search for the former in the latter and remain dissatisfied on achieving our particular desires in the objects outside of ourselves. This is because we are actually searching for the Infinite contained in the Absolute in the objects of our senses and mind where it cannot be found. It is like the case of an old lady searching for something under the lamp post although she lost the object in her hut. On being questioned why she was searching for something under the lamp post if she lost her treasure in her hut, the simple lady answered that there is no light in her hut! Under the false impression that just searching anywhere is enough to recover her lost treasure is similar to our searching for happiness and well-being in particular objects. Unless we turn back from the world outside to ourselves where the diamond of happiness is hidden we shall never attain it. Here a note is ringing in our ears from the proclamation Jesus made: Repent (turn back), for the Kingdom of God is at hand and the Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden from public view and is within all of us.
Those who doubt the universal presence of the three fundamental desires because some people commit suicide, a few prefer darkness over light and many are unhappy in the world do so for a variety of reasons. The common thread running through those reasons is a mix up of the desires themselves with their actualization. It is a fact that some people fail in actualizing the fundamental desires because of wrong choices they make. Seemingly going against the first fundamental desire, people who commit suicide are not in the best mental balance a normal person should have as they were misled into attitudes of life incompatible with the natural flow of life. Life has its own rhythm and rules disregarding which consistently and without self-examination leads to unmanageable situations for the person concerned. Such people are led to believe that they have reached a point of no return and to salvage the situation they believe that suicide is the only solution. In fact, with infinite capacities inherent in each human being we never reach such a point of no return if one is willing to be calm and reflect a little. Ways and means will be opened up even in hopeless situations as there is no end to hopes and possibilities in this world. As for the second fundamental desire, that there are people who prefer to be in the dark is attested by not only the Bible but also the great Greek Philosopher Plato. He said: "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light".
The fact that there are a number of people who are unhappy in the world goes to prove the validity of the third fundamental desire to be always happy. It only means that they are looking for it in objects outside themselves because of ignorance of the source of happiness inside themselves. No particular object of desire satiates them as soon as they attain it and they start looking for other objects of desire. This kind of never-ending quest for happiness actually derives from their own infinite potentiality for happiness of which they are unaware or are loathe pursuing. Created in the image and likeness of God, we are not meant to be fully satisfied with anything other than God Himself as St. Augustine noted in his famous book titled 'Confessions'. As we live in this world, we cannot avoid interacting with the world nor are we expected to run away from our daily challenges. Where we go wrong is in being slaves to the demands of the world instead of being their rulers and masters in virtue of being the images of God. In order to achieve this we have to return to ourselves through reflection and meditation to remind ourselves of our real worth. This will, in turn, show us the way to equitably deal with the situations in the world without plunging us into misery. Any sorrow or disappointment will be taken in its proper perspective without any doubt of our self-worth . For example, for a student to be disappointed and be sorry for failure in examinations is proportionate to what happened, whereas to commit suicide on account of it is disproportionate. It is disproportionate because the former situation may be turned into an opportunity by a wise student, while the latter case of suicide is irreversible and is a greater failure.
As we have seen above, while the three fundamental desires are to be promoted and developed for a full blossoming of personality, the topical desires concerned with enhancement of our Ego that are detrimental to our real growth should be checked. We need not renounce all such desires as we have to maintain a body that is in direct touch with the world through our five senses. We only have to take care to exercise control over our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Some ascetics resort to violence against their own bodies by punishing them cruelly hoping that thus they would be able to control themselves by denying their urges. The vital point to remember here is that to control our body, we have to control our senses through which it operates. Again, to control our senses, we have to control our mind that directs the senses to act or refrain from action. Mind control, therefore, is the hinge on which our senses and body should turn. In order to achieve this properly, the light that is in us through intellectual understanding is a requirement. Knowledge, understanding and clarity of the situations we have to operate in are supplied by our intellectual application. This presupposes our willingness to make progress in life by adopting suitable means for which our will power has to be set in motion. Intellect and will are two faculties easily made use of by our soul, while the body is governed by our mind and senses. However, the mind is not unconnected to our soul as it remains as the hinge on which our body and senses turn, which supply the material for the soul to work with. As the brain controls our bodily functions, our spirit consisting of the intellect and the will control our spiritual functions. The spirit in bodies is called the soul. Besides, we are endowed with the Spirit of God to aid us in our spiritual quest. Self control, therefore, is essential to our balanced and harmonious growth and is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, which means that we have to co-operate with the Spirit of God to achieve the same. (To be Cont'd).
Those who doubt the universal presence of the three fundamental desires because some people commit suicide, a few prefer darkness over light and many are unhappy in the world do so for a variety of reasons. The common thread running through those reasons is a mix up of the desires themselves with their actualization. It is a fact that some people fail in actualizing the fundamental desires because of wrong choices they make. Seemingly going against the first fundamental desire, people who commit suicide are not in the best mental balance a normal person should have as they were misled into attitudes of life incompatible with the natural flow of life. Life has its own rhythm and rules disregarding which consistently and without self-examination leads to unmanageable situations for the person concerned. Such people are led to believe that they have reached a point of no return and to salvage the situation they believe that suicide is the only solution. In fact, with infinite capacities inherent in each human being we never reach such a point of no return if one is willing to be calm and reflect a little. Ways and means will be opened up even in hopeless situations as there is no end to hopes and possibilities in this world. As for the second fundamental desire, that there are people who prefer to be in the dark is attested by not only the Bible but also the great Greek Philosopher Plato. He said: "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light".
The fact that there are a number of people who are unhappy in the world goes to prove the validity of the third fundamental desire to be always happy. It only means that they are looking for it in objects outside themselves because of ignorance of the source of happiness inside themselves. No particular object of desire satiates them as soon as they attain it and they start looking for other objects of desire. This kind of never-ending quest for happiness actually derives from their own infinite potentiality for happiness of which they are unaware or are loathe pursuing. Created in the image and likeness of God, we are not meant to be fully satisfied with anything other than God Himself as St. Augustine noted in his famous book titled 'Confessions'. As we live in this world, we cannot avoid interacting with the world nor are we expected to run away from our daily challenges. Where we go wrong is in being slaves to the demands of the world instead of being their rulers and masters in virtue of being the images of God. In order to achieve this we have to return to ourselves through reflection and meditation to remind ourselves of our real worth. This will, in turn, show us the way to equitably deal with the situations in the world without plunging us into misery. Any sorrow or disappointment will be taken in its proper perspective without any doubt of our self-worth . For example, for a student to be disappointed and be sorry for failure in examinations is proportionate to what happened, whereas to commit suicide on account of it is disproportionate. It is disproportionate because the former situation may be turned into an opportunity by a wise student, while the latter case of suicide is irreversible and is a greater failure.
As we have seen above, while the three fundamental desires are to be promoted and developed for a full blossoming of personality, the topical desires concerned with enhancement of our Ego that are detrimental to our real growth should be checked. We need not renounce all such desires as we have to maintain a body that is in direct touch with the world through our five senses. We only have to take care to exercise control over our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Some ascetics resort to violence against their own bodies by punishing them cruelly hoping that thus they would be able to control themselves by denying their urges. The vital point to remember here is that to control our body, we have to control our senses through which it operates. Again, to control our senses, we have to control our mind that directs the senses to act or refrain from action. Mind control, therefore, is the hinge on which our senses and body should turn. In order to achieve this properly, the light that is in us through intellectual understanding is a requirement. Knowledge, understanding and clarity of the situations we have to operate in are supplied by our intellectual application. This presupposes our willingness to make progress in life by adopting suitable means for which our will power has to be set in motion. Intellect and will are two faculties easily made use of by our soul, while the body is governed by our mind and senses. However, the mind is not unconnected to our soul as it remains as the hinge on which our body and senses turn, which supply the material for the soul to work with. As the brain controls our bodily functions, our spirit consisting of the intellect and the will control our spiritual functions. The spirit in bodies is called the soul. Besides, we are endowed with the Spirit of God to aid us in our spiritual quest. Self control, therefore, is essential to our balanced and harmonious growth and is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, which means that we have to co-operate with the Spirit of God to achieve the same. (To be Cont'd).
No comments:
Post a Comment