Dear Friends,
Assuming a desire (materialistic) arises, how does one respond to it?
The Bhagavad Gita offers an answer:
If you are an ordinary person driven by the excitement and pursuit of sensual pleasures, you will likely seek to fulfil that desire without pause, if that’s in your reach. However, if you are a person of self-mastery, your mind remains composed and undisturbed. Just like the ocean - vast and ever full-receives the waters of countless rivers yet never overflows, so too does the self-controlled individual remain unaffected by the surge of desires.
It is a strange example and indeed a mathematical curiosity. The oceans are ever full, rivers like the Nile and the Tigris, the Amazon and the Ganga - together bring millions of gallons of water into the ocean; yet it still keeps its own dimension. The mind of Muni (Man of Reflections) is so vast, so deep, so broad, that all the desires reaching it cannot make it spill over into the sensuous activity. Such a man of great depths alone lives in this world, in peace. Desire brings agitations, then strife begins, to fulfil the desire. By the time desire is satisfied, a dozen other desires spring up which need attention and quick gratification.
He, who is devoid of longing, giving up totally all desires, lives without the twin selfish ideas of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, he indeed attains peace. Question: How can you understand why certain desires take root in your mind, especially those that make life feel artificial, hollow, or plastic in nature?
To know this, you must observe the origin of your cravings. Are they born from your true self, or imitation, comparison, or conditioning shape them? Many desires don’t arise from genuine need but from borrowed identities - social influence, media, and fear of missing out.
Real clarity comes when you sit with your desires without rushing to fulfil them. In that stillness, the mind reveals whether a desire is authentic or just a mask over emptiness.
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