________________
Life of an aspirant
91
When one as mighty and powerful as Rāvaņa accepts defeat at the hands of unfulfilled desires, then what can be said of ordinary mortals? From time immemorial, desires have emerged, have been extinguished and have re-emerged with greater passion. Even on becoming king of the heavens, Indra's desires have not been satiated. Such is the appetite of desires.
A wealthy man once said, “I aspire to spend time in religious activities. I yearn to attend discourses, but I have to work so hard to manage my basic necessities that I find no time." It is this appetite of the mind which cannot be satisfied even with the wealth of a thousand emperors and that of Lord Indra combined. A handful of grain is all our stomach needs, but the appetite of the mind is so large that you can go on filling it, yet it remains unfulfilled. If fat is poured on blazing flames, will they ever subside? On the contrary, they will be further kindled. The same is the case of pacifying desires by trying to fulfil them. It is said in the Manusmặti that trying to fulfil desires is like adding fat to fire.
Where is joy? Sometimes I wonder, after all where does it reside? As long as desires exist, whether you fulfil them or whether you allow them to remain in your mind, they will only frustrate you. As long as you try to satiate desires, the moment of total fulfilment cannot arrive, and without that, how can everlasting joy be found?
A monarch who rules over six regions still thirsts for a seventh one! Just think - if the opulence of six regions cannot give contentment, then what is there in the seventh one which would satisfy him? Lord Mahāvīra has said:
For avarice is boundless like the sky.
The scriptures say that the hope to be able to fulfil all desires is like the woman whose countless children have lived and died, but her life has not reached its end. That moment when you will reach the end of your hopes and desires will be the moment 2 na jātu kāmah kāmānāmupabhogena samyati havişā krusna-vatrmeva
bhūya evābhivardhate icchā hu āgāsasamā anaṁtiyā
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
