Desire and Action

by Smt. Susmita Devi

Again I return to one of the innumerable quotes of Sadguru Sri Sri Babathakur. The following one is taken from the calendar of the current year:

“True Self is ever free from desire and action.”

When I first read it and discussed it with Ramen for the purpose of writing something on the topic, I pondered a bit over its inner meaning – not the words, which like most words, have synonyms. True to my habit, I therefore looked up the word ‘self’ and got the following varieties: Identity, personality, nature and character, but not the Self with capital 'S' (used in Hindu philosophy only).

Sri Sri Babathakur however has by 'Self', always meant the Inherent Divinity, i.e. the spiritual One, not the physical (body) manifestations of It. The addition of the word ‘True’ (with a capital 'T') is and can only be singularly mentioned, as I have often heard Sri Sri Babathakur point out: Self is indivisible and One without a second.

People are made up of innumerable physical and mental attributes, but few truly care to reflect on what makes the human mechanism work in such incredibly complicated and harmonious ways. Finding no logical explanation, one must return to the Divine, an invisible, incomparable and all-powerful non-entity. It Is - without becoming (i.e. not born and can therefore not die).

I think the inspiration behind the above quote is to create awareness about how born individuals can free themselves from ideas rooted in the ego (ahankar) or ‘small self’ as Sri Sri Babathakur often calls the personal aspect of an individual, who is bound to desire and performs actions in order to sustain life and satisfy individual hankerings for as long as possible, in ways most suitable to him/her. The True Self (Divine) has no desire since desire belong to individuality only. One must not forget that ordinary desires are rooted in the mind only and thus mainly represent nescience (spiritual ignorance).

Quotes from ‘Nectar Of Wisdom’ (pages 270-271) may make this clearer: ..."In one sense desire is the product of duality. To fulfill desires an agent is required and an agent to fulfill requires some instrument or tool like sense organs, cognitive power and activity. Nature without desire can’t function and nature without the basic Divine Will can’t function. The difference between the Will of the Lord and the desire of man is that the former is universal and hence spiritual and the latter individual, hence intellectual. That means the latter pertains to the non-self”...."So, the ego, born of duality can’t understand the Unity of Consciousness. It finds differences with itself and with others as well.  When differences appear, the reflected consciousness suffers, and we think we suffer."...."Individual desire is of objective character and the universal desire is of subjective character. Objective desires are always of the nature of tamas and rajas which, whether fulfilled or not, produces reactionary effects while subjective desires are of altruistic and spiritual nature. Subjective desires functions well with the Super-ego. To seek for spiritual perfection is thus a subjective desire and proceeds towards fulfillment and may reach the goal – the dawn of spiritual perfection and realization, which always is Universal in character.”

Sorry to say, the Truth is that, although we appear as separate entities, every born human (or animal) depends on Prana (life force) in some form.  Prana is that which allows individuals to exist - if there is no Prana, one is considered dead. But, it is only the physical body which dies because the Prana is released from it and carries all the worldly impressions of doing, saying and belief (Karma) till It again is suffused into another body (reincarnation). So when anyone says: ‘I was, is and will always be’, they are referring to Prana and not the variety of bodies which may be infused with the dormant Prana from last birth.

I try to reflect every now-and-then on the implied meaning, the effect it has on one’s life and how it may be possible to remain so aloof from daily activity and interaction with others as to forget that the ‘I’ is the imperishable part of one’s individuality, actions and reactions. 'I' does not remain in the dead body, but is contained in the Prana. I react to the memory of the quote in a practical way by asking ‘How can an ordinary mind grasp such high-level thoughts?’ How can such unique thoughts be used and communicated in daily life? To go to a lecture and nodding approval is easy, but when it comes to implementation in daily life there are many hurdles of habit and upbringing to overcome – especially the hurdle of the ego sense. Living in the world (especially in such a turbulent time as now with so many non-essential inputs), it is unquestionably, extremely difficult to remain calm and composed in the midst of chaos and socially imposed mind-work by saying ‘Let the Divine Lila (shadow-play/imagination) play, but retain an unaffected state in inner life’. This is the very reason why spiritual practices (e.g. meditation, yoga, introspection, giving unselfish service, listening to songs or lectures about the Divine Lila) must be practiced regularly. Human mind is prone to select the easiest way out, which often is just to participate in what others do and think.

We are born with a universal mind, but slowly develop it into an individual body/mind complex. Through upbringing, one is socially and culturally conditioned to carry one's daily functioning while living in a society. That kind of upbringing has the capacity to become so ingrained in one’s behavior and thought, that any response to environment becomes automatic like ’where is my dress, toy, food, husband, wife etc., etc'. The fact is that, whatever is provided us to use - and even the capacity to worship - is socially conditioned.  Mind, indeed, becomes conditioned with the reflection that ‘I’ am the center of the ‘my’ world - unique and special.  To enable one to accept and live according to the idea of Universal Unity, to accept and practice another viewpoint of life is not easy.  It takes numerous years, and mental and physical alertness (Tapasya) to imbibe that one is but part of a Whole - with limited time in each birth to reach Perfection and thus be able to shed both desire and the idea that the human form - the ‘i’ act (referring to the individual endeavor in the relative world) can be purged of useless ideas and practices. It is of utmost importance to carry on even then, for with each birth new aspects are impressed and used by mind. Many a saintly personage have written about and taught how to reach the stage where the small ‘i’ (individuality) is replaced by the Universal ‘I’. It is however not easy, for one must either negate common life and society or transcend it. To transcend is the ideal, yet very few can truly manifest the transcendental ‘I’, the Self, the undivided’ One without a second’. Those who can are, designated as Sadgurus, like Sri Sri Babathakur.