Monday, July 27, 2009

Yoga and Desire

Sally Kempton is a regular columnist for Yoga Journal and I love her essays on yoga philosophy and living.

This one on desire is particularly acute. She incorporates a mythical story of the Hindu god Brahma and from there provides constructive insights on the nature of desire, how to use as a force for good in our lives and avoid the pitfalls.

Here's a taste:
Well-managed desire can inspire you to action and help shape your life. Unmanaged desire—well, distraction is the least of it. Even Brahma, the ancient, ageless creator of the universe, turned into a hormone-crazed teenager when inflamed with desire. In fact, his story reveals the power of desire and what's needed to turn it into a force for good.
And another:

Yet whether deep or superficial, all these desires have the potential to manifest results. Your life situation at this moment is to an amazing extent the product of the desires you've held—often desires that you forgot long ago. As one of the Upanishads says, "As a [person's] desire is, so is his destiny. For as his desire is, so is his will; as his will is, so is his deed; and as his deed is, so are its consequences, good or bad."

Knowing how to direct the power of desire toward growth can help you create a life of beauty, love, and even enlightenment. On the other hand, if the desires you follow are unhealthy, if you have not brought them fully to consciousness, or if you continually follow the distracting impulses of momentary desires, you're likely to find yourself in situations that don't serve your highest goals.

Click through to read the whole thing, Gotta Have It? It's not long and worthwhile.