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Life of an aspirant
A mind that is free of desires is calm and serene but a mind that is disturbed by desires is insatiable. The more you try to satisfy it, the more you get ensnared in its web. If life was like a smooth highway, one could speed through it without any stops or pitfalls. But, alas! Such is not the case. Life is full of difficulties and obstacles. And how do we face these obstacles? By always being hurt by them, and allowing the thorns of unrest, hatred and jealousy to pierce our very flesh! There is calmness and serenity before desires are born, but when obstacles arise in the path of desires, then the mind gets agitated, and as a result, negative emotions like anger and pride arise.
All of man's desires can never be fulfilled; this is a universal law. In life, unfulfilled desires are always greater in number. On one hand, man's heart and mind are constantly troubled because these desires are not fulfilled, and on the other hand, his mind burns with frustration against those circumstances and powers that create obstacles in the fulfilment of desires. Often, a person begins to hate himself to the extent of committing suicide.
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There is not a single person whose every desire has been fulfilled, nor is it likely to ever happen. One who makes such a tall claim is obviously suffering from delusion or self-deception.
This is similar to the case of a man who first inflicts a wound upon himself with a knife and then bandaging himself, feels happy when the wound has healed. This is only an indication of his foolishness. After all, joy can exist only in the state prior to the wound, then why inflict the wound at all? So also the state prior to the arising of desire is the state of peace, contentment and joy. In fact, any experience of contentment stems from an absence of desire. To create desires is to inflict a wound upon oneself with a knife. The wound on the body may heal in time, but the wound inflicted by the knife of desire does not ever heal. And a wounded mind has no space to rest. It is always restless, always searching. Day and night the mind is troubled by worries and burdened by obstacles. And at the end of the day, even if the wound starts healing, of what use is it? The peace that existed before the emerging of desires is anyway lost
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