Deception of desire
Questioner: Sadhguru, I desire freedom, but the more I desire it why does it seem to be less obtainable?
Sadhguru: Generally people think freedom is physical. What freedom means for most people is “I become free from my work, my family and from all restrictions” — all that one thinks as restrictions — “if all these restrictions that bind me are gone, I become free”. But wanting to become free also becomes a bondage. The very desire is a bondage. The moment this desire arises in you, you are trapped in the bondage.
Everything that you see, everything that you perceive through your five senses namely sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch — one way or the other ends up as a thought process within yourself.
Suppose you see something beautiful. For example you see a very beautiful car. The first thing, the first thought that strikes in your mind is: “Oh! How beautiful the car is”. Between this and before it becomes a desire like, “Oh! I wish I had it”, there is a certain space or amount of time.
A thought is simply a natural process because the five sense organs are functioning, perceiving things constantly. And it ends up as a thought process. But it is we who unconsciously make it into a desire. Once the desire comes, there is a drive; there is a sense of incompleteness. A desire means that you are incomplete. A desire means, “I am here; something is there. If I reach this or get this, I am going to be total. When I reach the goal I am going to be total”. That is the basis of a desire.
At every step and every moment your desire will create an illusion. You often think that “If I get this, that is it”. You think that after your desire is fulfilled you will be happy and content. Whether you really thought about it this way or not you must know that this is the fundamental quality of the desire.
The thought is a deception: you can go on desiring for something or the other for your entire life. People go on desiring even on their deathbed. They go on desiring because the deception of desire is such that it literally seduces you to believe that the moment your desire is fulfilled everything is going to be okay. That’s the feeling it gives you at every step, isn’t it?
With this deception it just keeps you going all the time. But between desire and thought there is a certain space. If one becomes aware of this space, the desire completely evaporates. Now you are sitting at a place. If you want to move from this place you have to consciously create a desire in your mind. “Let me go”, must be forced upon the mind. Otherwise, there is no urge to do anything. Just being here is enough, because it is really enough. It is really sufficient to be here. There is no need to go anywhere.
— Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a prominent spiritual leader, is a visionary, humanitarian, an author, poet and internationally-renowned speaker. He can be contacted at www.ishafoundation.org
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