Of Desires & Moksha

Our scriptures advise us to stay away from desires, because desires are at the root of most human-created problems. The Bhagavad Gita goes as far as to say that desires (and the anger resulting from them) are all-consuming, destructive and our enemy on earth.

Adi Sankara (whom I like to call the ‘OG-Bhashyakāra’, in a true millennial lingo) in his Gita Bhāshyam puts it beautifully – desires, when fulfilled lead to more desires, attachment & delusion; and when not fulfilled cause disappointment, sorrow and anger. So, either way desires aren’t really desirable!

All they lead to is a hamster wheel, where we are always in the quest for the next big thing, or in search of ‘that’ beautiful day where everything will be alright. So, if ‘that’ day is somewhere in the future, then by definition ‘today’ can’t be alright, ‘today’ is bound to be rife with problems, sorrows and yearning. Perhaps, that’s why the Buddha proclaimed Dukkha (or suffering) as the First Noble Truth.

Maybe their idea was to draw our attention to the impermanence of worldly pleasures, so that we don’t keep chasing them thoughtlessly.

But the problem is, we are not Sankara or Buddha. We are mere mortals, encased in a thick coat of ignorance, dependent on the world to fulfil us, and relying on external validations to make us happy. So directly aiming for Vedantic salvation, or right away setting out on a path of extreme-renunciation and sacrifice might not work for us. (In fact, if we don’t tread that path carefully, we may even descend to lethargy, laziness and Tamoguna).

So, what is the way out?

If letting go of desires completely is not possible, then perhaps we can aim to discipline ourselves to have what I call ‘qualified desires’. And these can be grouped to 3 categories based on their qualification. Let’s have a look:

Category 1:

The desire of making the world a better place. Meaning, not wanting something for ‘me’ and ‘mine’, but hoping for a better world.

For example, a desire like “I want to see India become a truly developed nation, and also play a small part in it”, is of course a worldly desire, but is far better than a desire like “I want to make my first million dollars before my 30^th birthday”.

And in fact, if we do our duty towards nation-building – either through Karthavya Karma (paying taxes, following rules, practicing civic sense etc.) and/or Lokasangraha Karma (charity, volunteering time for the not-so-privileged, bringing about changes in the society etc.), without expecting any personal gains we are already on our path of Karma Yoga, one of the three pathways to salvation.

Category 2:

The desire for one’s near and dear: It’s only natural that we desire good health for our parents, wellbeing for our children, or sustained growth for the organization we work for. While these would also count as worldly desires in strict Vedantic terms, there is a minute element of selflessness in these, because these desires are for something/someone outside of ‘me’, or the body-mind complex that we call ‘self’. And these will also motivate us to work hard & do our duty (as a parent, an offspring, an employee/professional etc.), making us better human beings.

Category 3:

If we are so strongly identified with the self (‘self’ with a small-letter s; which is basically the body-mind complex we function through), and we can’t survive without desires for this ‘self’, then at least we can try to ensure that these desires meet the below qualifications:

a) That they don’t involve wishing ill for someone else. (like, ‘I so want to bring him to his knees’ or ‘I’ll do everything possible to put an end to her career’ etc.)

b) They make longer-term sense for our body-mind complex, rather than giving instant, fleeting dopamine rushes. A desire like ‘I want to lead a healthy lifestyle’ is far more sensible than the desire to dig into that extra tub of our favorite fried snack. Wanting to consistently upload content and express yourself truthfully, is wiser than yearning for our reel to hit 1K views within an hour of posting. In neuroscience terms, it is about listening to your pre-frontal cortex instead of being constantly controlled by the amygdala.   

Closing thoughts….

If we reflect on our own lives deeply & truthfully, most likely roughly 2/3^rd of our desires would be Category 3 and 1/3^rd Category 2; give or take 10-15% depending on the phase of our life we are in, and how much of life we have seen in all its rawness. As to Category 1, let’s face it - for most of us it comes in intermittent flashes; when we read about India making global strides or extending a helping hand to other countries during natural disasters or pandemics (and yes, during India-Australia cricket matches too :)).

Once we truly identify our desires in light of the above categorization, I think we just need to start with Category 3 and slowly work our way upwards. Moving from ‘the world for me’, to ‘me and mine’, and eventually graduate to ‘beyond me and mine’. That’s when we’ll stop relying on the world to fulfil us, and do what we can ‘for the world’.

And at some point, perhaps we (mortal humans) will also slowly, steadily move toward ultimate liberation - Moksha, as envisioned by Adi Sankara. Or Nirvana as taught by the Buddha, or Kaivalya as advised by the Jain Tirthankaras. (Note: Though these schools of thought describe liberation differently, each with its own unique nuances; all Indian philosophies ultimately point toward a transcendence of suffering).

Sankar