Bhagavad Gita 2.71
vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān
pumānś carati niḥspṛhaḥ
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ
sa śāntim adhigacchati
“Who gives up desires and walks untied,
Free from longing, free from pride,
With no sense of ‘mine’ in heart or hand,
Such a soul finds peace, serene and grand.”
O my Lord, it is almost impossible to live without any desire at all. What you expect from me is not to become desireless but to ensure that the control of unnatural desire over me becomes less. Desire is a natural feature of my very being—the way you have made me as a conscious spiritual part of you. Indeed, to be conscious is to be desirous. The problem arises when desire becomes misdirected and domineering. Please, O Lord, help me to discipline and direct my desire toward you. You are the supremely desirable reality, and you have given me the power of desire so that it can naturally bond me with you—just as an iron filing has a natural tendency to be attracted toward a magnet, and the magnet has a natural tendency to attract the iron filing.
Please, O Lord, help me to become desireless in the sense that all the desires that are like rust around the iron filing of my soul may be cleansed—so that I am no longer captivated by the things of this world. In this way, the more unnatural desire is removed from my heart, the more the natural desire of my soul will be revealed. And the more I will be bonded with you—eternally and ecstatically—by the natural and healthy power of my soul’s innate attraction toward you, who are the ultimate whole.
***
02.71 A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego – he alone can attain real peace.
Leave A Comment