Analysis of Desires
Desires are what make our lives interesting but there is a caveat.
When a person is born he does not have many desires. He is naturally in a state of happiness. Actually, love and happiness are our true nature, but only when we have sheaths of fear obstructing its expression do we start formulating various desires. Apprehensions arising out of not fulfilling these desires lead to further fears and the cycle continues.
Fear is the root cause
I have been pondering over the real reason behind the existence of various desires for quite some time. It occurs to me that when our true self is able to express itself unobstructed, we do not need anything else. It is only when some fears cause obstruction in the expression of our true selves that we seek outside means of attaining the original level of happiness by formulating various desires and trying to achieve them.
Example: Shyam was a happy child and was able to express himself freely. Then as he grew he developed an infatuation with girls and it caused fear in him as he lived in a conservative society. He was unable to express himself freely and started living a fearful life. Gradually people started avoiding him. In order to gain the original love, he started formulating desires like being a topper of the class or becoming school captain, etc as that would make people like him.
“Formulation of most of our desires is based on some form of emptiness within”
“And the root cause of emptiness is some form of fear”
Not all desires are bad
“The existence of desires is what makes us human”
Without desire, there won’t be any purpose in our human life. The desire to love and be loved is deeply ingrained in our psyche. Moreover, most of us do have some basic fears and these fears do give rise to some more desires. Till the time we are in this physical realm, such desire will provide the motivation to achieve worldly success.
Example: Ramakrishna Paramhansa was a great saint of India and he too had a desire for good food. Food is the basic necessity for the existence of life and one would fear bodily pain in absence of it. Moreover, it also gives the motivation to carry on daily duty without which Ramakrishna wouldn’t be able to have followers and share his wisdom.
“The basic desires are thus necessary to live a human life”
Excess of desires is not helpful
When the desires increase it leads to more apprehensions about not being able to fulfill anyone of them. Even if we have 10 desires that are fulfilled and there is one desire that remained unfulfilled, we still will be unhappy.
Example: When we see the image of birds at the beginning of this article, our focus is not all the 6 birds that are sitting straight but are on the one bird that isn’t. That is the issue with desires. Moreover, as the number of birds in the picture grows, the chances of having another fallen bird rise.
The analogy to shadow game
Most of us have played the game of creating various shadow figures on the wall. Some make figures of animals while others make that of cars, etc. I can again take the example of the birds presented at the beginning of the article. It is also an example of one of the shadow figures.
“Shadow figures created on the wall are analogous to the various desires that a person has”
If there are 5 people who are playing this game then everyone has to make some shadow figure. If one does not make any shadow figure then he is not in the game.
“This is analogous to having every person in the world have some form of desire”
“Without desire, a person may not play the game of life”
In the game of making shadow figures, a person wins who has the most number of beautiful figures. Here is where the analogy differs. In real life, a person wins i.e. he is the happiest if the shadow figures are less.
I can explain this using the analogy of people playing the game on the screen that is actually a solar panel. The winner is the one who can charge the battery fastest.
“The more the shadow figures, the lesser the efficiency of the solar panel to charge the battery”
When the shadow figure is less, it implies more light reaches the solar panel and hence more electricity is generated. This is analogous to having lesser desires leading to the more free flow of energy leading to a happier state of being.
Universe shall provide
One may argue that if one does not have any desire then he will find difficulty in leading life. I believe that one should concentrate on having himself free of fear. When one is free of fear, he will have lesser desires making him happier. Happier people are always liked by others around them. People also provide safety and other material wealth to happy people.
Example: When a child is born, he is devoid of all major fears. This makes him have lesser desires making him happy. The universe helps such children by providing them with parents who take care of their needs.
Another example: Monks in various parts of the world have a lesser number of desires and are generally happy. They too are provided with generous donations and that makes them continue with their way of life. Similarly, various celebrities are not celebrities because of their skillset but only because they have fewer fears.
Thus, we see that if a person is having fewer fears leading to fewer desires then the universe will make sure that they can continue to live happily. One need not worry about making a living.
Conclusion
Desires are what make us human but excess of them can cause us to become unhappy. Even if one has the majority of desires being fulfilled, if there is one desire that remained unfulfilled, the person will be unhappy.
One should not worry about losing motivation to do well in life in absence of desire. It is the duty of the universe to provide so that the person with the least desire does not have to struggle. He just has to ensure that he remains happy and devoid of fears.
In order to reach the state of happiness, one has to work upon removing the sheaths of fear using the technique of catharsis and refinement of the inner child. These are the only means of attaining fewer desires leading to a happier state of being.
