We all want inner peace, feel satisfied and want to be happy. And the best way to achieve this,we think, is by satisfying all our material desires. We tell to ourselves, “Once I accomplish my goal or goals I would be the happiest person.”
The problem is that even if we succeed in fulfilling some of our material desires we find that it does not give the expected happiness which we had thought of. And soon some other desires pops up in our hearts and we start putting in our best efforts to fulfill it hoping that achieving it will fill our hearts with immense joy and satisfaction. But upon achieving it too happiness and peace eludes us. And again we start working on our new material desires. The cycle continues. In fact the desire for material gain ultimately goes in vain.
The other challenge is that it is not always possible to getwhat we want in this world. And if the desires remain unfulfilled then it generates anger and our mind becomes agitated. We constantly feel miserable.
So the books of wisdom such as Bhagavad Gita teaches us that happiness does not lie in endeavoring hard to satiate our material desires but in controlling them with intelligence and patience. Bhagavad Gita (5.23) teaches us that the forces of speech, the forces of belly, the forces of sexual desires should be controlled. In fact the urges of senses and mind which have the potential to make us and keep us agitated should be nipped in the bud.
Just like a fish if taken out from water and put in a golden jar suffers terribly and ultimately die. Similarly our soul cries in pain if we try to satisfy it by feeding it dollops of worldly pleasures.
Having material opulence does not guarantee happy heart. Ravana had kingdom made of gold, Hiranyakasipu had every luxury which we can think of but their hearts remained always devoid of peace and bliss. If we try to extinguish fire by pouring gallons of petrol over it the fire will become more dangerous. Similarly the more the material desires we cultivate the more our hearts will be agitated.
We are parts and parcels of Krishna and so we can be satisfied and be happy only when we dovetail all our desires towards the service of Krishna. As of now we have willfully severed our relationship with Krishna so the material world keeps us agitated with the waves of worldly desires.
But if we start tolerating material desires and start cultivating spiritual desires by following the guidelines of sacred books our mind will become peaceful, heart will be satisfied and we would achieve perfection.
“Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self – realized, self –disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.” Bhagavad Gita 5.26.
Spiritual desires keeps us blissful in this world and guarantee Supreme destination in next life.
