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            Galvanizing not Suppressing is the Key to
            -------------------------------------  
                 Conquest of ?kaama? 
                 -------------------

Like it or not, we all must deal with our ?kaama?.

Human Desire, ?kaama?, much like Gravity, is
irrepressible force of Life and stark fact of Reality
too. It can be tapped or exploited to great advantage.
It can never, however, be suppressed or simply wished
away. The pull of gravity that an aircraft overcomes
in order to take to the skies is the same force too
that enables it to make a safe landing. And again,
yes, Gravity simply drags everything down to earth but
that is precisely the reason why water dragged in
gushing torrents down a giant dam produces valuable
hydro-electric power too.

Likewise, the irrepressible power of ?kaama? that
makes every man?s heart pump and throb with Desire may
be used in either of two ways: It may be exploited or
galvanized (in the same way as Gravity is galvanized
in a hydro-electric dam) in order to extract real and
durable spiritual advantage; or else, it may be put to
use in the pursuit of trifling pleasures and
compulsive gratifications of life. 

Vedanta recognizes fully that it is the nature of a
compulsion to be almost beyond control. As long as we
are in the grip of the desire, it seems we cannot
think of anything else until we satisfy it. The
important point to note here is not that there is
anything wrong in the desire itself, but simply that
we do not have the CAPACITY TO CHOOSE when it is all
right to gratify it and when it isn?t. 

Vedanta identifies the major cause of all kinds of
compulsive desires to be obsessive identification with
the body (?sarira-" or ?prakruti-? sambhandam? is the
technical jargon for it in Sanskrit). It is because we
identify ourselves with the body that when a sensory
craving comes, we feel we have no choice but to
satisfy it. The alternative is to feel frustrated,
repressed, and unfulfilled.

?It never occurs to us that we might not be what our
desires are. But as long as we identify ourselves with
our desires, we can never be masters of our selves.
And to be masters of ourselves means that we must be
ABLE TO CHOOSE EXACTLY WHAT WE DESIRE, choose exactly
what we think: which means that for many, many years
we will have to say 'No' to a lot of compulsive
thoughts and cravings. It is a long, long journey
indeed to real freedom from Desire....? (Eknath
Easwaran)

So, at the end of it all, it all amounts to one thing
in life: fundamental human choice. You can either
galvanize the awesome power lying latent in
?kaama?.... or, you can choose to simply fritter it
all away.
          
                    *************

Now, that which determines which of the two disparate
ways Man will choose in order to control and channel
his ?kaama? is generally termed, in the philosophy of
Vedanta, as ?Will? or ?icchA-shakti?. 

To be able to effectively make the choice as to what
exactly will be desires of our life and what will not,
it is the Will that must be awakened and exercised. As
long as ?kaama? prevails our Will remains little more
than a mute, comatose and paralyzed witness. When the
Will however is active, the power of ?kaama? then gets
channeled into our pursuit of true Vedantic
?purushArtha?.

?Will and Desire are thus competitors in a really long
marathon, one that goes on for years in our lives. All
the bets are on Desire (?kaama?) to win. For most of
us the Will is still in bed while our Desire is racing
away far ahead. Why? Because of our fundamental
attitude that satisfaction of desires is everything in
life and the absence of such satisfaction is the worst
of fates. Rather than our Will determining the
character and intensity of our desires, it is usually
the other way around: our Desires (?kaama?) submerge
our Will (?icchA-shakti?) and lead us to deeds that
have no really no purposeful, valuable or fulfilling
goals in life.? (Eknath Easwaran: ?The Thousand Names
of Vishnu?).

               ****************

Earlier in this series of essays, we saw the Vedic
?chamakam? going to all the trouble of drawing up a
careful inventory of desiderata --- a very handy list
of 347 essential things in life for Man to pursue, all
strung together in 11 ?anuvAkAs? of extraordinarily
beautiful poetry. We must ask why? Is it because Man
is incapable of prayer? No, it is mainly because Man
truly knows not what to petition God for. Man does not
know how to pray to the Supreme Being for truly
worthwhile or desirable things of life. Why? For the
simple reason that he is ignorant of what is
ultimately good or bad for him. And the ignorance is
really born, as it were, out of the gaping womb which
is what that great rift is between Man?s compulsive
Desire and his discriminating Will.

What the Vedic ?chamakam? thus, in effect, seeks to do
is to make a rather arduous Vedantic task in life
considerably less daunting and difficult for us. Out
of great compassion for the human plight, the Veda
seeks to lighten the burden of us having to choose and
determine the exact predilections of our ?kaama?. The
?chamakam? seeks to bridge the great chasm that there
exists between our Desire and our Will, choosing all
on our behalf and for the sake of our everlasting
benefit, the right set of Desires in life to entertain
and pursue.

A story in the ?kausheetaki Upanishad? tells us about
a character Pratardana, a mere mortal, who earned the
goodwill of Indra, the Vedic god, whom he helped fight
the evil-gods, the Asuras. The very pleased Indra
granted Pratardana a boon and asked him to name
anything his heart desired and it would be granted.
Pratardana was a wise soul. He replied ?I am a mortal
and my knowledge and judgment of what is good or bad
for me is limited and fallible. But thou art a god. So
you please choose for me yourself that which will be
of enduring benefit to man and grant me that!? On
hearing this Indra was so pleased that he taught
Pratardana the ?prANa-vidya?, the esoteric knowledge
of the Self which leads to everlasting liberation.

In the heartfelt prayer of the ?aaypaadi? girls too in
the TiruppAvai -- ?maRRai nam kaamangaL maaRRu? -- we
hear indeed the distant but unmistakable echo of the
story of Pratardana.

                ****************
                (to be continued)

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan 




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