Is desire an evil?- Vedanta Study Group

[radha krishna kantamneni]

Among all living beings, human beings are considered the most
superior and the most powerful. Our sastras or scriptures give the
reason for our superiority: human beings alone are endowed with the
three fold power known as icchasakti, jnanasakti and kriyasakti.
Icchasakti means the power to desire; Jnanasakti is the power to know
and kriyasakti is the power to do.



It is because of jnanasakti that we have so many educational
institutions and research centers. The body of knowledge is forever
expanding. And it is because of kriyasakti that the face of the earth
has undergone such tremendous transformation, changes that we see all
around us touching our lives every day -- from using the ATM to
surfing the Internet. Thus, science alone is not enough; science must
be converted into technology.



Equally important is icchasakti. The power to desire is the
driving force behind jnanasakti and kriyasakti. Let us suppose we
have the power to know (a keen mind and a sharp intellect) but not the
desire to know. The power to know is of no use if there is no desire
to know. Similarly we can have the power to do (the stamina and
strength) but this power is useless if we have no desire to do
anything. The power to know and do is made meaningful by the power to
desire.



In our tradition we respect all three powers equally. In fact,
we worship these powers considering them a blessing from God. One of
the names in Lalitha-sahasranama (verse 130, nama 658) is
'icchasakti-jnanasakti-kriyasakti-svarupini, - The One who is the
power of will, power of knowledge and power of action'.



Here we face a problem. While we look upon desire as a
blessing, our scriptures - despite glorifying the desire on one hand -
strongly condemn kama or desire which is looked upon as an internal
enemy. In the Bhagavad-Gita (3.37) Lord Krishna calls kami (a person
with desires) a great papi or sinner - 'It is desire, it is wrath
begotten by rajoguna: all consuming, all sinful, know this as the foe
on earth'.



Katha Upanisad (2.3.14) states - 'When a man has all his
heart's desires destroyed, he attains immortality and becomes one with
Brahman in this very life'.



Again, in the Bhagavad-Gita (2.25), Lord Krishna defines
liberation as the destruction of all desires - 'when a man abandons, O
Partha, all the desires of the heart and is satisfied in the Self by
the Self, then he is said to be stable in wisdom'.



To the above scriptural references, we can also add the well
known English saying 'Desire is the root cause of all evil'.



Are the scriptures confusing us? Is desire a blessing or a
curse? On every new year day we make resolutions which are nothing
but expressions of our desire. Should we continue to make these
resolutions - considering desire a blessing - or do we refrain from
doing so - considering desire a curse? What should we do? What is
the scriptural stand?



Scriptures cannot afford to condemn desires. The very
existence of the scriptures is only to fulfill desires. Our
scriptures prescribes four purusarthas or goals of life: dharma
(values), artha (wealth), kama (desire), and moksa (liberation).



To achieve the above goals or purusarthas we must first have a
desire for them. A doubt can arise. Desire itself is one of the
purusarthas. Does it mean we must have a desire for desire just as we
hve a desire for the other three? When desire is mentioned as a
purusartha, it must be understood to mean desired objectives such as a
successful career, winning a competition etc. Veda-purva-bhaga (the
earlier portion of the Vedas) contains elaborate procedures like homa
and yajna for fulfilling our desires like getting progeny, acquiring
cattle, property, etc. Even God has desire.



Taittirya-upanisad (2.6) says, 'He, the Atman desired: May I
become many: Let me procreate Myself.' Bhagavan desired and created
the world. The incarnations of the Lord are manifestations of
Bhagavan's desire. If desire is to be condemned sastra itself becomes
irrelevant. Desire is the starting point, the basis, the foundation
of for all our activities, endeavours, pursuits. Desire is
indispensable for every being. Thus desire and desiring power are a
blessing in the form of icchasakti because of which alone we are able
to make use of our jnanasakti and kriyasakti and progress in life.
Hence, we look upon desire not as an evil or course, but a blessing.



Then why do our scriptures condemn desire? Why do scripture
define liberation as giving up desire as we have quoted earlier? When
our scriptures condemn desire, we must understand it to mean abnormal
desire. To understand what abnormal desire is, we first understand
what is 'abnormal' and for this let us consider an example.



A friend says, "I have a sugar problem.' Does this mean that
the sugar in our system is a problem? Sugar is essential for a
healthy life, but the doctors have prescribed a limit on consumption
of it. It is only when this norm is exceeded or violated that a
person has a diabetes. Thus, it is not sugar per se, but abnormal
sugar which is the problem. Similarly, cholesterol is necessary for
good health. Yet we hear of people having 'cholesterol problem'.
Again, what is meant by abnormal cholesterol in the system. In the
same way, when our scriptures condemn desire, it means abnormal
desire.



Thus, what is abnormal desire? It is a desire which exceed the
limit, violates the norm. A desire which is within limits, conforms
to norm, is a normal or healthy desire. Just as there are prescribed
norms for sugar and cholesterol, there are certain norms (three in
number) for normal or healthy desires.

1. Appropriate desire:

Krishna says in the Bhgavad-Gita (7.11), "In beings I am
desire, not contrary to dharma, O chief of the Bharatas". Lord
Krishna defines an appropriate desire as dharmic desire. Any desire
that does not violate the norms of ethics, morality and justice is
appropriate. In fact, Lord Krishna says a dharmic desire is an
expression of his vibhuti (glory).



When adharmic desires arise in our mind we need not feel bad
because we have no control over the their appearance. But we do have
control over their continuity. And so, when an adharmic desire pops
up in our mind, we simply nip it in the bud. A desire is like a
visitor - both welcome and unwelcome - who appears at our door
unannounced. While we have no control over who knocks at our door, we
entertain and spend time only with the welcome visitor while turning
away the unwelcome one.



What is wrong, if we entertain adharmic desires? We are likely
to think 'nobody will know'. But we know. We lose respect for
ourselves and our self-esteem is affected. In our heart of hearts, we
will not accept such behavior. Such a person cannot be a happy in
life.

2. Balanced desire:

There must be a balance in our desires. All this is a two-fold
balance. The first balance is in getting and giving. We all have the
desire for acquisition and hoarding. But, how many have the desire
for giving and sharing? The desire for acquisition should be balanced
with the desire for contribution. Desire for acquisition is natural;
desire for contribution has to be cultivated.



How can we contribute? We can contribute time, energy, effort,
knowledge and money. Scriptures looks upon the entire universe as a
gigantic, cosmic infrastructure. We tap this infrastructure to
fulfill our wants, needs and desires. Scriptures call upon us to give
back to the infrastructure which sastra describes as having five
components.



a. Nature:

Sastras or scriptures refers to nature as a panchabhuta or five
elements: space, air, fire, water and earth. These are a source of
energy and our very sustenance. In our tradition we look upon Lord as
the panchabhutas or five elements. And what have we done? Rather
than give back to nature (by planting trees, etc.,) we have polluted
the air, land and water. Global warming is the result of us going
against nature. We have to contribute to preserve nature.



b. Living beings:

This includes all living beings, flora and fauna. We
contribute to their well being.



c. Society:

We contribute to social welfare schemes that benefit the less
privileged sections of the society.



d. Educational Institutions:

Scriptures attach great importance to eduction and teachers.
The role of educational institutions is to turn out responsible human
beings who know what normal and abnormal desires are, healthy and
unhealthy desires and more importantly have self control over abnormal
desires.



e. Family:

Our scriptures consider family to be the most important
infrastructure for a healthy mind. We can enjoy a healthy mind only
if we have the cushioning support of a family. This especially
applies to children and elderly people. Institutions such as schools
cannot give the love and care as effectively as a family.



This five fold contribution - nature, living beings, society,
educational institutions and family - is known as pancamaha-yajna and
is referred to in sastras as devayajna, bhutayajna, manusyayajna,
brahmayajna and pitryajna respectively.



The second of the two-fold balance is balancing material
pursuits and spiritual pursuits. According to our scriptures, the
entire universe is a combination of matter and spirit - prakriti and
purusa. We ourselves are a mixture of matter and spirit. A
spiritualistic person chasing money, entertainment, pleasure will feel
a hollowness or emptiness in the heart, an inner sense of vacuum and
incompleteness. We must spend at least an hour a day for
spirituality. At a minimum we can study a few verses of Bhagavad Gita
daily. A spiritual person who neglects basic comforts - nutritious
food, a comfortable place to stay - with a wish to eschew materialism
would face needless and unnecessary hardships which actually hinder
spiritual growth. Hence, we must have a balanced mixture of both
material and spiritual pursuits.



3. Clean desire:

Our scriptures say desire has certain byproducts which are
harmful. These toxic byproducts are krodha (anger), lobha (greed),
moha (delusion), mada (arrogance) and matsaryam (jealousy), fear,
anxiety, worry, rivalry etc. A successful businessman desirous of
being even more successful, plots to eliminate his competitors. We
should not entertain such unethical desires. In other words, we
cultivate 'clean' desires.



Thus, we follow the above principle - we have Appropriate,
Balanced, Clean Desires. We can have any number of desires. We need
not feel guilty. On the contrary, we can feel proud and privileged.
Swami Vidyaranya says in Pancadasi (6.262) that we can even have a
cross desires - "When a person can dis-identify the Self from egoism
and realize that the Self is in no way connected with egoism, then
though he may have crores of desires, they will not bind him because
he has cut the knot of the conscious with the unconscious."



Let there be plenty of healthy desires!