Benevolence & Desires

Following up to the article that I published last week on selfless benevolence, I would like to go out a limb and elaborate on the connection that exists between selfless benevolence and human desires. Desires are essentially self-centered thoughts that make the human being aspire to some personal gain. Benevolence, on the other hand is a truly magnanimous gesture that relies solely on human sacrifice. So in reality, how do these two pragmatically opposite concepts find a common ground? What connection exists between benevolence and desire? Today we find the answers to the aforementioned questions.

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Unrequited desire is essentially a form of unrequited energy. To understand the aforementioned corollary, one would first have to cognize desire in its very essence. Desire is any thought that does not find consummation. Desires find their birth in human thoughts, which in themselves rise from the human consciousness; from the human spirit. Thus desires in one way are the unrequited expressions of the spirit. They are efforts made on part of the human spirit to find some form of satisfaction and peace within itself. Ultimately the sense of unrequited-ness which is created within the spirit itself is created due to the unresolved karmic bonds that the spirit bears with other souls. These karmic bonds leave their own mark within the constitution of the said spirit; which ultimately manifest as desires. Essentially desires act as catalysts in the law of karma; for desires in themselves at times are the motivation for certain karma; and unrequited karma on its part forms the crux of the birth of any desire.

To understand that one would have to simply look dispassionately at life. If we do that we realize that many times, it is our desires that get us into liaisons that we otherwise detest. Consider an example; a person wants to eat at a certain restaurant; but fears to do so for he knows that his ex-girlfriend works there. Yet the desire to eat overcomes his reticence and he goes to have a bite at the said restaurant. Eventually circumstances evolve in a way in which he ends up having a humiliating experience at the hands of his ex. Now the role that desires plays here is that it induces a karmic liaison between the two said persons. It induces the action, or makes provision for the reaction; now the main problem that lies before the seeker is to realize if any karma was part of the “action” or the “reaction”. Was the man meant to go to the restaurant just because he had to be humiliated at the hands of his ex? Or was the humiliation a result of his foolhardy decision to visit the restaurant in the first place?

These are the questions that plague the seeker evermore as he starts to move further ahead on the spiritual path. As the seeker begins to analyze each of his actions, he is faced with this grave problem. The karmic liaisons can hardly be comprehended, let alone be dissected by the intellect. The only thing that the seeker can do is that he can willfully try and absolve his karma. This he can only hope to accomplish through selfless benevolence. For when the seeker on his own accord, acts selflessly and takes pains for the sake of others; acting in complete benevolence, not expecting any returns, he automatically absolves his own karma. Without even interacting with anyone, the seeker can absolve his entire karmic load through sheer benevolence. That is the great power that selfless benevolence bears. Still, the seeker’s personal desires act as a deterrent in his quest to be benevolent.

However, the way to absolve the humane desires is through benevolence itself; desires are irrevocably tied to human karma; and thus are they requited with its absolution. Benevolence absolves all desires…quenching in the end the burning fires…

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