Query:
A Burning DESIRE. How do you develop a burning desire if you are lacking in it?
Is there a small first step that I could take?
Vijay
Kumar:
I rarely
come across people with intelligence as expressed by you. You are so forthright
in expressing your views that few people have the guts to express... matters in
such a clear tone. What more could one ask for or want out of life!
I
am sure that you are a believer of God.
You may not have desire for material riches but having a goal in life is very
essential ... you love music ... that is more than sufficient ... what in music
is that you want ... or you want to become one? Some goal may be for a short span
to start with!
I
had a passion for knowing the ultimate reality! I went in search of God not knowing
where to find him ... I had but to find him ... no matter what obstacles came
my way. After a gap of 25 years I succeeded when God Almighty gave me a direct
darshan (one-to-one contact). That was the ultimate goal of my life then. Yet,
my ultimate goal was dictated by God ... teach what you have learnt before you
depart from this body! I'm very happy doing it ... never knowing from where the
funds would come from to support my family and me.
The grace of God has been with me all throughout ... the belief I have in God
is the ultimate one can have in a lifetime... Never concerned with what the others
feel or say! One must always cherish the work one indulges in ... it should be
a work of choice ... never superimposed upon us by our elders ... we are human
beings not animals ... we're supposed to be doing what our inner voice
commands us to do.
Your
problem stems from the fact that your thinking at the moment is negatively oriented.
You are most of the time confused ... since the moment your father left you ...
you are but living life for the sake of it. To get out of negativity in your thinking
pattern you have to get out of the past.
You have to bury your past forever ... only after you come out of your old thoughts
shall you be able to concentrate on the present ... and thereafter only shall
you be able to develop a goal in your life. The goal not for your own self but
for helping the community and the self as a whole.
To
come out of the past you need to forget
and forgive one and all ... the circumstances may have been not in
the control of your father ... why blame him or anyone else for what has befallen
you. We are all instruments in the hands of God ... we must continue our life
doing our Karma.
More on Karma
here.
Now I shall
narrate a small story about an Indian sage who was amongst the highest of all
the intelligent beings of his time-
It
was the time when King Janaka ruled over a province of the Indian kingdom. He
was a very Spiritual person ... Time and again he conducted various seminars,
discussions on matters related to Spirituality
and Religion.
After
a certain stage of time he organized one of the largest shows ... a chat forum
... the one like the dialogues
of Plato ... where in all were invited to have discussions related to Spirituality.
The losers would quit and the winner alone would survive the end.
When discussions were proceeding among the priests ... entered this sage with
his retinue of assistants trailing him. The King had announced that the winner
shall be given 10,000 cows and on the each horn was tied five coins of gold. (In
all ... 10,000 cows and 100,000 gold coins were to be won by the winner)
The moment sage Jnanavalakya
entered the premises ... he ordered his assistants to open up all the cows and
take them to the hermitage ... an unbelievable feat for this aroused hot discussions
among all the 5000 learned priests who had gathered there in hope of earning the
invaluable prize. They argued, "what does this gentleman think of himself"?
... he has not yet entered the discussions and yet he has the guts to order the
prize to be taken home. How does he assume himself to be the winner?
The
poor priests had one thing missing in all of them ... the knower
of all ... the self realized ... one who gains the ultimate wisdom
... is never short of confidence ... sage Jnanavalakya knew from the very beginning
that none among all the priests had Realized God ... gained enlightenment
... and as he alone had been blessed by God Almighty ... he exercised his right
to the prize. King Janaka also knew before that it is only sage Jnanavalakya who
shall win the end but kept quiet during the arguments for it was up to sage Jnanavalakya
to prove his worth.
One of the intelligent priests asked, "Why a learned sage was interested in the
materialistic riches"? Sage Jnanavalakya replied that today he had only come for
the prize and he shall have it ... where is it written that people with a Spiritual
bent of mind do not have the right to the prize. What he actually meant was that
the prize was not meant for inciting the sensuous side of the human body but could
always be used for the benefit of mankind by a truly Spiritual and intelligent
being.
If God grants
an ordinary human being a lottery then, within his limited thinking he thinks
of spending the money on material comforts ... but for a Spiritual person the
money is only a means to a goal.
In
brief, you must come out of the negativity present in you forever and only then
shall you form a goal in your life. The habits of the past are to be buried forever
... you must be able to love
your work to the extreme ... only then you shall be able to inculcate in you a
habit of living
in the present ... this is the most important ingredient on the path
of becoming what Napoleon
Hill said in his "think and grow rich" ... "anyone can become a millionaire,
"if he really wants to become one".
Always
there to clarify your queries (send
your query),
Vijay
Kumar "Atma
Jnani"
Vijay Kumar... The Man who Realized God in 1993 on Burning Desire.
For more on burning desire and life goals visit -
burning
desire |
Full text of query:
Few days later, he gave
me a copy of "Think and Grow Rich" by "Napoleon Hill" with the remarks that anyone
can become a millionaire, "if he really wants to become one".
"If he really wants to". That is the problem. I read this book years ago as a
teenager, and was stumped by the most basic requirement. A burning DESIRE. I would
fantasize about doing great things, being like a Ghandi or Einstein, or great
Spiritual leader, but I could not take the responsibility to do so. I read a lot
of books, can spout all sorts of things that I learned, but cannot walk the talk
for very long. How do you develop a burning desire if you are lacking in it? It
seems that my whole journey in life has been as a seeker looking for truth. (and
for a father, as mine abandoned me when I was five). and I have found many answers,
and people show up in my life often to teach me, BUT I do not have a strong enough
desire to take responsibility for my life.
It's
like I have the attitude that God will take care of me, and I just have to be
open to it. and so I have survived and I am doing much of what I have a passion
for, but I'm like a 55 year old baby, waiting for someone to take care of me,
and rescue me. So I introspect and withdraw from the real world and its responsibilities.
My bills clutter the inbox, I procrastinate on my taxes. Every once in a while
I will get a kick in the butt from a friend and I will make some progress, but
my will is weak. and yet I do have gifts of music, and the goal of being able
to touch hearts and minds with my music and there by bring others closer to God.
But I can't seem to bring myself to take charge of my life and do what is necessary.
Instead I write this letter asking for help. Yet having no confidence that I will
be able to act on your advise. Is there a small first step that I could take?
