Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
13 May 2020
I want (1)
“To have”
You want so many things in life. Is it not so? Have you examined what this want of the mind could be? The want is such a big factor in your mind, is it not? Why did life put want in the mind?
I want a radio. I want a video. I want a dress. I want this. I want that. I want a better car. Is it not so? There is nothing wrong to have a want. Have a good car. But, be happy. Have what you want, but be happy. But are you?
What is the mechanism of want? What is its place in the mind? What is its role?
Examine how many wants you have had over all the years and that want has generated a cycle. Have you understood it? Don’t you think it is wise to know why you want? But have you addressed the question, why do you want?
Is it not important? Does want end up in a good result to you, which will wipe out all other wants, or will you live simply wanting? Are you simply a wanting man? You seem to be a very unhappy happening. Is it not so?
The cat is happy. The dog is happy. The tree is happy. The only one unhappy happening in this life is man and woman as he or she. But is it really so? Even though you are unhappy by what you want, you want to be happy.
Examine your unhappiness and you will know what happiness is. Without examining unhappiness, you want to be happy. Without examining the want, you simply want.
Understand that not only are you flowing in life, every object, every animal, every plant is flowing in life. Each manifestation, each perceived manifestation in the waking state is on a journey of transformation in life.
Understand that you were an animal before. Understand that now you are a transformed animal. Understand that an animal is transformed vegetation. Vegetation is transformed elements.
Life is a transforming process. Everything is transforming, everything is evolving up to the point of consciousness. Every living and non-living entity in life comes from the source and will go back as the source to the source.
Very few people really want to know what life is. Many are entertained by fairy tales of want in the mind. When you understand the transforming process of life, you will understand the want in your mind.
The wise understand that every moment in life happens without a want because the moment was in life much before man or woman was in life. The wise understand that every moment has within it what it is meant to have and it has within it without a want.
The enlightened live every moment without a want.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V.S. Shankar 2020
Editor’s Note:
Wanting is a curious phenomenon placed by the intelligence of life in the mind of man. Its source implies that it is intelligent, yet it distracts man from life’s gifts. Want indicates the lack of something that is desirable or needed, thus depriving man of his natural balance. The wise declare that life is the genitor of every manifestation, both animate and inanimate. In wisdom, there is no other play, for neither man nor any other agent pre-existed the moment in life. On his way to understanding that this is so, man is unbalanced by wants – what he wants – not yet realising that every moment contains what it is meant to contain. Understanding the nature of wants is on man’s journey for realising who he really is. Live life as it happens.
Julian Capper. UK
German Translator‘s Note:
Spiritual achievements are commonly thought to be possible only without having any wants. This article explains the illusion of want the other way around. The outcome of understanding life as it is, “spiritual“ so to speak, is to live life as it is without a want. For this understanding to happen, wants are needed. Everybody has many wants in his or her mind, so there is no lack of opportunity to understand the illusory nature of want. Whatever any moment has within it, happens without a want. Therefore wants are illusory and not real. Freedom from whatever is or is not within the moment, as well as gratefulness for the moment as such, is enlightenment.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.