Friday 16 September 2016

A sadhak writes...

Why does desire cause suffering. How do you stop wanting things ?

If we enjoyed desiring then we wouldn't bother trying to fulfill desires. The fact that we feel the need to satisfy our desires demonstrates that we are not happy with being in a state of desire. 

However, at no point can I really say that I have fought myself over desire or suppressed desires. Instead, I have focused on happiness. 

When your focus is on happiness, then your wanting of things and dance with desire take on a different meaning. Do the things you want make you happy? Is that happiness deep, penetrating, peaceful, and lasting? Or does your desire require you to chase after the same things in different forms again and again?

If your focus is on things, this whole thinking process going on in mind goes unnoticed. If your focus is on happiness, you soon realize how ineffective such a path is when it comes to discovering your nature of joy and wholeness. 

The whole idea is that desire is suffering, but because we depend on desire in order to orient our sense of happiness, passion, and love, we don't understand the real meaning of desirelessness. 

"All I plead with you is this: make love of your self perfect. Deny yourself nothing - give your self infinity and eternity, and discover that you do not need them; you are beyond." ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

If you can satisfy a desire fully, then do so and be done with it. If you satisfy a desire and notice yourself feeling it again later on, then you know that you aren't really desiring what you thought you were. If you can't satisfy a desire, then obliterate the delusion that made the desire possible in the first place. 

That's been my approach and it's worked out pretty well so far. 

 

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