Datta Maata 164: A Desire - An unbreakable chain

A desire takes birth in another desire. Even before first desire is fulfilled, the second desire takes birth. In this manner, the lineage of desires goes on. For this tree called life, the desires blossom all the time like the tender leaves. There is no end for this.

Once, a man was frustrated in the worldly life. He wanted to come out of it and lead a life of solitude (Sanyasi). So, he took renunciation. He had only two dhothis (men's traditional garment). He survived on the alms and spent time by engrossing in the memories of Narayana. He totally forgot the worldly life. He took bath in the river and dried his clothes there itself. By sitting at the banks of river, he performed japa (repeated chanting of divine names) and penance. He lived in a small hut. His life was going on in this manner. But, one day, a mouse had bitten off his dhothi that he had kept for drying. He left that and used the other dhothi and dried it at some other place. But, the mouse had bitten even that. In this manner, the mouse had bitten all his clothes. In order to prevent the clothes from being bitten by the mouse, it must be caught hold of. As a result, he started rearing a cat. Since the cat must be given milk, he brought a cow. For grazing the cow, he appointed a man. He used to take the cow for grazing as per the scheduled time, brought it back, gave it food and extracted milk from it. For doing so much of work, the man must be given nutritious food. With such intent, he performed the marriage of the man. They later begot children. In this manner, taking care of the cat, cow, the man and his family was now the duty of this Sanyasi. Why this karma? Because of this, the responsibilities of the Sanyasi grew more and more. The one who did not want any weight on his shoulders is now bearing all the weight. In all the worldly works, his spiritual practice totally got interrupted.

As we see here, all the desires have emerged from the desire to protect the clothes. Same is the case with lies - To protect one lie, we need to say one more. It is like a chain that follows one after the other. Few people take loans. They repay one loan and take another immediately. This becomes a chain of loans. To safeguard one lie, another lie has to be said. The life of this Sanyasi also has become like that. Just to protect his clothes, he reared a cat and for that, he reared a cow. For that, he alloted the duty to a man and performed his marriage. What is his story? To protect them all, he must now go away. What kind of karma is this? One usually takes so much of pain for wife and children. But, here the Sanyasi is doing everything for others. Similarly, there is no end for lies. One lie follows the other. Any work must be devoid of the feelings of desires. Else, the consequences will be severe - one has to certainly end up in hell. Amongst four children, the younger one is usually stubborn. He is not considered serious in games. Unlike in that manner, for our life to become precious, we must make this birth fruitful. For that to happen, we must reduce the desires. May you begin efforts in that direction. One desire follows another. We must not have desires at all. To fulfill one desire, we succumb to the trap of another. In this manner, we need pleasure. In achieving that, we end up in disease and these pleasures result in a chain of diseases. It goes on one after another. All the desires follow one another. That is why, the noble souls follow "Nishkama karma" (Karma free from desires) They go to temple but do not pray for anything. They simply ask Lord to grant whatever he wants. They are all intelligent people. They feel, "God knows what I want at what time. Lord, you give me that. What is it that I have to ask? If I ask something, I will seek for several other things. To fulfill them all, I go behind another desire. This is not good. Since you have created me, it is your duty to take me along. Since I have placed complete trust on you, give me whatever you want to give me at appropriate time. Even if you do not bestow anything, then I will consider that this is what I need."

Jai Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!