May we have an insight, together, about desire and its impact on us? But before we do that, let us ensure that we don't get our prejudices, opinions, views, interpretations and preconceived notions, otherwise there can't be any communion and the essence of the reality is lost.
We all have desires, don't we? Only the intensity of the desire and objects of desire may differ. Most of our desires are material; some might want a BMW, some might want a Home Theatre System, some might want to build a beautiful house, and so on. Some of our desires are physical; we might want to have a partner of opposite gender to share a physical pleasure and so on. Some are so-called 'spiritual' like attaining self-knowledge, nirvana and all the rest of it. No matter what type of desire we have, the nature of the desire is the same to everyone, isn't it?
Now, let us stop and think what desires do to us, for I am sure people seldom do it. When we have a desire, most of our thoughts entangle and support that desire resulting in an urge to fulfill that desire. So, the object of the desire becomes all important to us. Most often we get attached to it. This attachment feeds the 'self', the 'me', the 'I'. So we say 'its mine'. As long as there is an attachment to something, we are afraid of losing it. So we seek security for the object of our desire - we tend to protect it. We feel disappointed when we lose it, don't we? So fear and desire go hand-in-hand.
Desire is a concentrated beam of thoughts. Each thought, if we observe, tends to aggravate the desire and hence all these thoughts are very intense. But what happens when a desire gets fulfilled? Does it stop there? The object of desire may change but the desire remains. Desire for something more, something noble. But the desire will only be for things that we don't posses. This is a vicious cycle; as desires get fulfilled, new desires emerge and hence there is a constant struggle for satisfaction. Hence one is caught in this trap. Can there be harmony in the midst of conflict? Is escape from desire a solution for this conflict? If so, there is another desire which wants to be free of itself. Can a desire free you from another desire? Or are you and the desire are really separate?
When one observes closely, the desire and the person who has it are not different. The desire IS the person. Knowing the implications of desire, what happens when one resists it? Resistance of any sort creates conflict - I have this desire, I shouldn't have this, so I will try to stop it or escape from it. When this happens, one is in a constant unending struggle. But when one looks at the desire without analyzing it, or resisting it, or escaping from it, the nature of the desire is clearly visible. Hence the impact of the desire will be nullified. This requires high degree of attention. Can this happen for a mind that is occupied in something trivial?
