________________
BEYOND BODY AND MIND
Most of our life is spent in fulfilling the needs of the body and desires of mind. People do not even realize that there is something beyond body and mind which needs to be sought and realized.
Majority of the people, who are living on the edge, spend their lifetime in making the two ends meet; they barely fulfil the needs to keep body and soul together. Those, who are lucky enough to meet their physical needs, proceed to fulfil the desires arising in their mind like earning a name, acquiring status, wealth, power etc. The physical needs are limited but the desires of mind and heart are limitless and infinite. Those, who indulge in pursuit of fulfilment of desires, hardly succeed; rather they end up in frustration and suffering. It is true, though strange, that as you fulfil desires, numerous new desires crop up. So the number of unfulfilled desires keeps on increasing in an exploding proportion to the number of fulfilled desires, which becomes a continuing cause of suffering. This is the reason why the affluent and prosperous looking people look more tense and unhappy than the people of smaller means because the latter have smaller horizon to look to.
Rarely people understand the vicious circle of desires. So long as you do not put a stop on desires, they keep on multiplying and that leads to greater and increasing dissatisfaction. They are not able to rise above the rat race and see that there is something beyond the physical or corporal existence and creature comforts. Those, who can realize the truth that there is something beyond material accumulation and sensual gratification, can feel and enjoy the bliss of things beyond the visible world. They alone can realize that the material things are impermanent and ephemeral and to run after them is like running after a mirage. There is sense in stopping rather than running. One, who has stopped running, is the person who has arrived. He alone can start looking inwards and realize the truth and can be called 'spiritual. Those, who do not stop and keep on running after the material things, cannot realize the
80
