(June 23, 2013) Handling Desires in a Dexterous Manner

Handling Desires in a Dexterous Manner

Divine Life Society Publication: Living a Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

Various Methods adopted by Desires (Patanjali’s Sutras) - Prasupta, Tanu, Vichhinna, Udara

The nature of human desire is very intriguing, and it is hard to understand its operations. Indriyāṇi pramāthīni haranti prasabhaṁ manaḥ (Gita 2.60). The power of the senses is something like the strength of a tornado, whirlwind or tempest which can hurry the boat of the mind in any direction, and it will compel the mind to think and act in terms of the movement of these agitations of the sense organs.

The handling of the desires of the mind requires a dexterous and very careful process. Here is a humorous anecdote which will give us some indication as to how we have to handle our desires. There was a person who owned a tiger, a cow and a bundle of grass. He had to ferry these items of his across a river, but the boat was so small that he could take only one item at a time – either the tiger, or the cow, or the bundle of grass. Which one will he take first? If he takes the bundle of grass and leaves the tiger and the cow to themselves, it is dangerous for the cow. And if he takes the tiger first, the cow will eat the grass. So he thought of a plan, like a careful spiritual seeker.

After deep consideration, he adopted a technique. He took the cow first and left the grass and the tiger behind, because the tiger will not eat the grass. He dropped off the cow on the other side and came back. Then, he took the tiger across and left it there, and brought the cow back with him so that the tiger would not jump on the cow. He dropped off the cow, left it here, and took the bundle of grass to the other side and left it with the tiger. Finally he came back and took the cow, and all the three went. See the intelligence of that man. We cannot easily understand this technique. It is very hard to grasp.

Every desire has to be taken by itself, and it should not be compared with any other desire. As is the case with this tiger, grass and cow, only one thing at a time was taken into consideration. When we are engaged in one desire, we should not think of another thing.

We should not think that some desires are strong and some are weak. There is no such thing as weak desires and strong desires; it all depends upon the occasion and the circumstances of their operation. Are snakes good or bad? A calmly coiled-up, sleeping serpent cannot be regarded as much safer than a moving serpent. The apparent weakness of a desire is oftentimes not because it is really weak. It has been waiting for an opportunity to manifest its real strength, as people lie in ambush in a battlefield and will not take action unless the time and opportunity for it come. The people lying in ambush are like simple sattvik sadhakas, sitting without uttering a single word, but when the time for it comes, they will jump up and attack with full force.

In one of the sutras of Patanjali, the various methods adopted by desires are briefly stated. Prasupta, tanu, vichhinna, udara are the terms used by the great master Patanjali. There can be a desire which looks like no desire at all – as, for instance, when we ask people what their desires are and they say: “I have no desires. I am a fulfilled man. I am completely satisfied. My children are settled; I have computed my pension. I have no desires.” It is not true that there are no desires. They are prasupta; they are sleeping, like a sleeping snake. That is one condition of desire. Therefore, apparent absence of a desire should not necessarily be taken to be a real absence of the desire. Any desire can manifest itself in any person, at any time, if the conditions are favourable.

The other condition is tanu, in which the desire is very weak, thin, fine like a silken thread, occasionally raising its head, but mostly not visible at all. It looks as if that desire has no strength, but the silken thread can become a strong rope if the time for it comes. There is nothing that we cannot achieve in this world, if we adopt the proper method. The world is neither our friend nor our foe. It is to be handled in a dexterous manner. It is a field of experience.

The kind of world into which we are born is determined by the collective impressions of the longings, desires or requirements of all the constituents inhabiting that particular pattern of the world. The kind of body, the shape or contour of our physical personality, depends entirely on the total arrangement, intensity, and particular internal constitutional makeup of the cells of the body.

The third condition of the desire is vichhinna: suddenly a desire arises, and tomorrow it is gone: “Yesterday I thought I would like to have this; well, now I feel I do not want it. I have given up that desire.” One feels like that, but it is a tactic adopted by the desire. When it knows that its method cannot work, it withdraws itself.

Desires are not dead corpses, they are living forces. They have life and vitality in them. Starved desires looking thin like a silken thread, or sometimes sleeping on account of unfavourable circumstances, can rise up into action because desires never die. They can sleep, they can get thinned out, and they can come interruptedly now and then, which is the vichhinna-avastha mentioned by Patanjali.

The fourth condition is direct action. We will be simply inflamed with our desire and, like fire, it will rise up from every pore of the personality. Reason will fail at that time. Reason sleeps when desires become fiery in their action. There is no intellect at that time. One temporarily becomes insane when there is such a rampant desire operating through the whole personality. It may be for any particular thing, as the case may be. It is a raging fire of longing.

Each sadhaka, each spiritual seeker, has to examine himself or herself carefully: “In what condition am I?” The fact that under circumstances easily provided we can manifest any desire should make us a little careful about feeling that the desires have completely gone.

The dexterity with which we have to take care of each desire independently, only one at a time, is illustrated by the story of the tiger, the cow and the grass. Take only one thing at a time and never bring two things into the forefront for understanding, as a judge in a court takes up only one case at a time and will not take up two cases simultaneously.

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Living a Spiritual Life – Handling Desires in a Dexterous Manner by Swami Krishnananda

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