Why Do Desires Arise?

“Your own mother was needed to give you birth; But you could not have been born without the sun and the earth. Even these could not have caused your birth without your own desire to be born. It is a desire that gives birth, that gives name and form. 

The desirable is imagined and wanted and manifests itself as something tangible or conceivable. Thus is created the world in which we live, our personal world. The real world is beyond the mind’s ken; we see it through the net of our desires, divided into pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner and outer. To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes.”

Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj

It could not have been more clearly stated! 
“It is desire that gives birth, that gives name and form….” Without desire, the universe as we know it would never exist. We would not exist! 
Desire is. And here we are, playing out a game called life! 

Another saying that aptly sums it up is:

“No mud, no lotus.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh that

(There is also a book by Thich Nhat Hanh That of the same name – No Mud No Lotus.)

Well, it’s pretty clear. A lotus cannot grow where there is no mud.  If there weren’t any desire you would not exist, neither would this world.

So, how did it all begin? 

The Beginnings

The ancient Sanskrit Hindu scriptures mention, at the dawn of creation, from emptiness a word of three syllables rang out A-U-M. It is from this sound universes sprang into being. 

In the Bible, similarly, it was the voice of God, the first sound in the all-pervading emptiness which started creation. 

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, and it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness…”

Genesis 1:4, The Bible

The keyword in the context of this blog post is “divided.” Separation.

If there were no separating lines you would not know sound from silence, light from dark, mud from lotus, human from divine, or sky from the earth. You would be a mass of nothingness, aware of nothing.

When Awareness Itself rose, which we term as God, Source, Allah, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma etc, light burst out. 

So, first it was the sound and then the light burst forth. Out of darkness, emptiness, a light was born.  

The One Becomes Many

Separation occurred. Because emptiness suddenly became aware of Itself. This awareness made it conscious and brought about separation. And with that separation, a desire arose for It to know Itself. Experience Itself. And yes, Love itself. 

You were born.

And then what? 

Well, the desire to know itself, its immense vastness, more and more, through myriad forms, colours, hues, angles, arose… And with that came about the stream of life and the innumerable experiences. 

The One divided into the many to experience itself through the eyes, bodies, feelings, of the many.

Om sahasra shirsha purushaha sahasrakshas sahasrapat |
Sa bhumim vishvato vritva atyatishthad
dhashangulam ||

Purusha Suktam – Rig Veda

Translated, this verse says: “The Purusha (the Supreme Being/God) has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet. He has enveloped this world from all sides and has (even) transcended it by ten fingers of breadth.”

The illusion of multiplicity began to play out. Each being shot out from this immense Being which we call God, having its own unique desires. And yet the source of all the desires is the same, just as the source of all the beings is the same – the one indivisible Oversoul.

So came about this game we call ‘life,’ which continues till the awareness of the beings in this world recedes from the external world completely and goes within…further within… and finally this Awareness faces Itself being aware of Itself….

For, at the root of the all the desires is the one desire, to know more of Itself, Love Itself, more and more ….till no “more” … till it’s all One….

Till the realization sets in:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega… the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One”.

REVELATION 22:13, The Bible

“I am the Self seated in the heart of all beings. I am the beginning and middle and also the end of all beings.”

Lord Krishna, The Bhagavad gita

I separated Myself from Myself so that I could love Myself.

Shri Sathya Sai Baba

So, Why Desires?

Therefore, the awareness ‘I AM’ (the awareness that you are, that you exist and are aware of it) is everything, and ‘I AM’ is nothingness too. I Am is the awareness behind the thought “I Am”. It is awareness being aware of itself and observing itself. 

It is from this Source that desires arise so that you slowly begin to journey towards the cause of the desires – You.

Your every desire is a call for you to return to innocence, to wholeness. It is not a call to become whole, by achieving, having, being something. It is a call to recognize you already are whole. You already are that which you seek…

The desire has come merely to reveal to your physical awareness, an aspect already hidden in your consciousness.

So whenever a desire arises, question yourself. What part of me is asking to be awakened through this desire? What aspect of me is it unravelling? How will I be when this thing that I desire happens or if I have it? Because that is the part in you knocking to be let out, released, awakened fully, and expressed.

Every desire you have awakens sleeping parts in you to be expressed so that you fully come into your power and express yourself wholly, as who you truly are. And that is nothing less than a Divine Being going through a human experience.

You are the heart’s desire and the desired. You are the cause and effect, there is no other. Your heart’s desires are invitations from You to know YourSelf….the originator of the game…

There are no right or wrong desires…your perspective makes it so….

Every heart’s desire of yours lines up to create a treasure map, which if you follow unhesitatingly and boldly directly leads you to the treasure which lies within….the source of it all,  finding which you’ll stop all seeking – YOU. 

“Everything is the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.”

Jalalludin Rumi

For You are verily the universe.

There is no “Other”.

Shri Ramana Maharshi

(You can view the shortened form of this article in this Instagram post.)