Handling Desires in a Dexterous Manner
Divine Life
Society Publication: Living
a Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda
+-+Prasupta,+tanu,+vichhinna,+udara.png) |
Various Methods adopted by Desires (Patanjali’s
Sutras) - Prasupta, Tanu, Vichhinna, Udara
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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.
Continue to read:
Living
a Spiritual Life – Handling Desires in a Dexterous Manner by Swami Krishnananda
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