Handling Desires
Divine Life
Society Publication: Chapter 9 – True Spiritual
Living by Swami Krishnananda
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Four Conditions of Desire – Prasupta, Tanu, Vichhinna, Udara
All that is outside in the
world of creation is connected with us by subtle appurtenances. So, whichever
be the spot within us becoming predominant in its strength, that particular
spot stimulates its corresponding part in the world outside and draws its
counterpart towards itself. This activity of the mind is called indulgence,
which it does through the senses, which are its instruments of action.
Many a time, we are likely to
be under the impression that our troubles come from the outside world, and there
are occasions when we feel that the troubles do not always come from the world
outside – that they are all inside us only. Both these are partial truths because
the trouble arises simultaneously from both sides.
But we are prone to a one-sided
approach always. It is difficult for the human mind to consider both sides of
an issue, due to a weakness of its nature. Either we hang on something outside,
or we hibernate in our own minds.
While it is necessary for us
to find out what are our weaknesses, we have also to recognize at the same time
what are the things around us which may be in a position to stimulate these
weaknesses into activity. We have to subdue our passions and inordinate urges
within – not only by an inward analysis, philosophical contemplation, and
company of the wise, saints and sages, etc., but also by keeping physically
away from those counterparts of these inner urges which can stimulate us into
activity in spite of our satsangas,
studies, japas, meditations, etc. So, there
is a necessity to perform a double action at the same time: inwardly, be wary,
cautious, vigilant, self-introspective, and pure to the extent possible; but
outwardly, also be guarded. So, seclusion is one aspect of the matter, and
self-analysis is its other side.
As our great guide Patanjali
puts it, success is quick in the case of those seekers who are persistent in
their practice and do not break the practice by discontinuing it even for a
day, and keep up the intensity of the practice in the same manner as they
entertained it in their hearts at the commencement of a fit of renunciation
with the love for God in their lives.
The very caution that we have taken may become
an instrument of our indulgence and fall. In other words, the conducive
atmosphere that we are thinking of in our mind may become an obstructing
atmosphere. Our desires have various stages and forms of manifestation, and
they are very wise, like snakes. They know how to act when the time for action
comes. They know how to withdraw themselves when it is time for them to
withdraw themselves.
Four Conditions of Desire
Prasupta
The prasupta condition is the sleeping
condition of a desire. If circumstances are unfavourable, the desires will be
sleeping. You would be undergoing a kind of compulsive austerity, and for a
time it will look like you are on the spiritual path, practicing penance for
the sake of God-realisation. But, beware! The desires are sleeping and are not destroyed,
because they are lying in ambush to catch you at the earliest opportunity that
may be provided to them.
Tanu
avastha
Sometimes, the desires are
thinned like a weakened snake which has
been starved for many days and is slowly trying to move, wriggle out of its
hole and find an opportunity to fulfil itself. But it cannot, due to the
restrictions of the atmosphere in which one lives.
When we voluntarily fast – not
under compulsion – on ekadashi, for
example, the desire for food is thin. It is not destroyed, because we have a
satisfaction that tomorrow we will have a good meal. That satisfaction is
itself a strength to bear the pain of today’s fasting.
Our attempt at a sublimation
of desires would not always be fruitful, because who is to control or subjugate
the mind? It is the mind itself that has to rectify itself by an internal
adjustment of its constitution. It is sometimes called the
higher mind controlling the lower mind, etc.
Thinness of desire is an
occasional device which the mind may adopt for the sake of making it appear
that the desires are not there, while this subtle connection in the form of
that thinned form of desire, thinned shape of desire, can swell it into
inflated action the moment opportunities arise or suitable conditions are
provided. The thinned form is called tanu avastha.
Vicchinna
avastha
At other times, desires are
intermittent; they come and they go. This is called vicchinna
avastha. Today you are angry, and tomorrow you are in a very
pleasant mood. So, it is possible for a person to behave in different ways
under different conditions of pressure, appearing to be one thing now and
another thing afterwards. This is the intermittent condition of human desire,
which takes shapes suitable to the conditions prevailing outside.
Udara
avastha
And when every condition to
manifest the desire is fulfilled, it can fully manifest. That is called udara avastha. Then, it will come
like a roaring flood and swallow us.
Prasupta,
tanu, vicchinna, udara are the four conditions of desire mentioned
by Patanjali; and we are always in one or the other of these conditions. It
does not mean that we have controlled the desires, or subjugated or sublimated
them, because the moods that manifest in daily life will indicate they are
still there.
Methods to Overcome the Various Conditions
of Desire
One of the methods is to live
in a positive atmosphere even though there may be a rumbling of desires from
within – for example, in the vicinity of a Guru. The proximity with a great
sage or a spiritual master produces a positive effect of its own. It is like
the light and warmth of the sun, which destroys all infectious germs and
purifies the whole atmosphere outside.
While this is, perhaps, a very
desirable method that can be suggested in the case of everyone, it may not be
practicable for all people to be always witnessing holy worships in temples, or
to be in the presence of a master. They have various difficulties of their own
in their personal lives. The alternative method then suggested is to take to
holy study for a protracted period – as, for example, Bhagavata saptaha or a purascharana of a mantra, which
takes all our time so that we have no time to think anything else. Our
desires are kept in subjugation for such a long time that they become very
weak, and the positive influence exerted on them by the purascharana of the mantra or the
holy reading, called the svadhyaya, may
sublimate them, may liquefy them and rarefy them to such an extent that they
get either tuned to our holy aspirations or are made to vanish altogether.
Study of these scriptures, is
not merely a means of gathering information on spiritual matters, but a
positive technique of transmuting one's emotions into those conditions of
thought and life. Thus, svadhyaya of
scriptures and japa of mantras, resorted to in a
very consistent, austere manner as a sadhana, would be
a safeguard against possible difficulties on the spiritual path.
Excerpts from:
Handling Desires - Chapter
9 – True Spiritual
Living by Swami Krishnananda
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