Another Small Story

One lady was moving house. She had a number of expensive curios that needed to be well-packed and shifted. She had hired some packers, and she was supervising them carefully. As she was watching the men packing up her belongings, she noticed one of them was handling her expensive antique vase carelessly. She warned him, 'Please be careful, that piece is over a hundred years old.' The man looked at her and understood her anxiety. He said, 'Don't worry ma'am, I will handle it like it's brand new!' Each one's worries are different. Each one's worries are based on his or her perceptions; based on individual desires.

Desire is not harmful in itself. Desires are energy, as long as they are our own deep and genuine desires, but the problem is that most of our desires are borrowed desires; they are the desires of other people. Our desires are born from jealousy and greed and have nothing to do with our real needs. It is said that this universe can cater to the needs of its every single inhabitant; however, it cannot fulfill the desires of even one single person!

Just think of all the things that you wish you had right now and make a list of them. Then, make a list of the things that you already have. Now tell me, of the two lists, which one makes you feel happy, and which one makes you feel sad? The answer is obvious. You feel happy about the list of things that you have and sad about the list of things that you don't have. So why can't we choose to be happy? Instead

of worrying about what we don't have, why don't we offer our gratitude to the universe for providing all that we have? Whether we want to continue begging for more or to be thankful for what we have is our own choice. We can choose between happiness and sorrow. It is purely our choice to be sad or happy. We have no one to blame. And even after we have acquired something new, what happens? We are happy, but only for a short period of time because once we have obtained whatever we wanted, it loses its importance; it loses significance to us. It is no longer worthy of great joy. So, again, instead of enjoying it, we fuel our greed and move on to other desires, more possessions, that give us no more enjoyment, no more fulfillment. If we understand that each of us is on a different path, we will understand that it is absolutely meaningless to pick up desires from others. It is a big blunder to pick up others' desires because their desires are themselves not based on their true self but picked up from others! For example, you may not be the type who needs a boyfriend but, unconsciously, when you see your friends having boyfriends, it becomes your own desire to have a boyfriend also. You don't even know that you have picked it up from them. You just watch them and imbibe the desire, that's all. The truth is, having a boyfriend is their desire, not yours. And that desire must have come to them through a series of happenings and interactions in their lives.

But what happens? It has now become your desire. Then you start pursuing it and suffer all that needs to be suffered through that desire. This is how 90 percent of your desires take shape. And one more thing, every time a desire gets

fulfilled, the first thing that happens in you is guilt! If you observe yourself closely, you will note this. When your own desire gets fulfilled, there will be fulfillment and no hangover emotion. There will be no trace of that desire left. But when a borrowed desire gets fulfilled, there will not only be no complete fulfillment, but there will also be a trace of guilt.

So, if you look deeply into this process, you will clearly be able to tell from whom and how you imbibed every desire and how you have allowed it to play upon you. Once this starts happening in you, desires will start to drop, and you will not pick up desires from others also.

If you distinguish between your needs and your wants, things will become alright. Once you are able to do this, you will find that you already have what you need! And this is what all the great philosophies have been saying time and again. Awareness of the truth, that we are one with the universe and that the universe bestows upon us exactly what we need when we need it, is enough to go beyond desires.

Meditation is a key that can open this awareness in us. Continuous meditation will open a space within us for these truths to enter. Then there will be no need for any philosophy or book or guide. You will just know from within, that's all.