DESIRES

 

All human brains are driven by emotions, be it love, hate, fear, anger, envy, sadness or desire.

In this world where love is cherished, hate is despised, fear is rationalised, anger is calmed, envy is understood, sadness is consoled, by literate or illiterate people. Amidst these, desireis one emotion which is seen with a very different eye.

Every one desires something or want to be desired. But the problem with desire is that you cannot control it actually. One can only pretend. If its excess it causes trouble, if it doesn’t exist then counted as a problem. When the mind harbour a desire it’s the beginning of problem.

Even in Bhagwad Gita, Krishna (Hindu God), has referred to these Desires, in his conversation with Arjun. Desires drop in our mind and and makes it their home. It’s uncontrollable and is easy for mind to dwell on it and hardest to detach.

Emotional desires and physical desires both are genuine and hard to stay away from them and both can bring devastation.

It was these desires which resulted in the most epic war history had ever witnessed, Mahabharat. It is a perfect example of greed, lust and selfishness. It was not either Kauravas or Pandavas who were at fault, they both were. Everyone can be held responsible for the devastation of kingdoms, death of warriors, women were widowed, children orphaned and homes ruined.

Both Pandavas and Kauravas were filled with desires and they were circling around evil. The desire which couldn’t be satiated even by an ocean. They called upon their own destruction.

It was Duryodhan’s, eldest of kauravas, greed for ruling the whole kingdom and in ability to share. Here if you see, how Indian mythology series is potrayed on television, is not the true version, any person with complete knowledge of Mahabharat can do character assassination of every single character in it.

Yudhishthir, referred to as dharamraj, also had the desires. It was him who brought the downfall of his kingdom and family yet we praise him and call him just. He lost his kingdom, himself, his brothers and last of all, the most shameful and heartbreaking incident History has ever recorded, his wife. A wife who was already been shared by five brothers, this was done to a woman by a woman. 

It was Kunti’s, mother of Pandavas, desire to form a bond between brothers so that nothing in the whole world would be able to break it.

Draupadi was the most exotic and gorgeous woman that even devas(gods) desired her and apsaras (celestial nymphs) were jealous of her. Sensing the pangs of jealousy among the remaining of her four sons after seeing the wife of her son, Arjun, she demanded Draupadi to marry all five of them. Draupadi had to face the criticism of whole society, even the women if her palace looked at her as a whore. A price paid to satisfy a mother’s desire to maintain the bond between her sons. 

It was Dhritrashtra’s excessive desire for his son to rule the the entire kingdom of Hastinapur, in the process he forgot to make him a human. His over indulgence in his son’s welfare  and pampering made Duryodhan a hot headed human being. If even one person would have behaved humanly then a woman would not have been disgraced in her own home, among all the elders who swore to protect and honour her.

Krishna reincarnated to bring a balance on the Earth. It was all a part of his divine plan. He knew if Karna, (an illegitimate child of Kunti), would have married Draupadi then no one in the whole Kuru clan would have touched her. Karna would have burnt that man alive who would have laid eyes on his beloved wife. She would never have been gambled away like an object, as she was referred to by Dushasan, younger brother of Duryodhan. But I guess that situation would not have worked in favor of the Gods’ divine plan.

Here is also another situation Karna was made to suffer humiliation in front of his own mother, family and whole kingdom by his own step brothers, because his mother never acknowledged him as her son. He was humiliated even after proving himself equal to Arjun in every aspect because he belonged to a lower cast, as the just royals present in that gathering thought. At that time he was supported by the most unexpected person there, Duryodhan.

Duryodhan saw the fear in Arjun’s eyes after seeing his equal. It gave birth to Duryodhan’s evil desire to mock his cousin in front of whole Hastinapur by announcing Karna as the King of Ang Pradesh. He created an archerer equivalent to Arjun, his best friend and humiliated Arjun to the core of his satisfaction by embracing Karna.

It’s all the game of desires.

 

 

We are no different from these characters. It’s just the desire for which trait is dominant in us at what time defines the menu of our character.

Today’s generation is so busy achieving their ambitious goals, that in the deep plunge for success, they leave all of their remains at the back of their mind. They can’t even listen to their heart and one fine day when they reach their saturation point, they look around. 

But who’s there to listen. They desired for all the materialistic things in life which had no heart to feel or ears to listen and lips to comfort. The desires we have build inside our minds like a fortress, some how its construction was going all around us converting it into a great wall and created a barrier between inanimate objects we run after and breathing people, whom we actually need, made of flesh and bones with heart and feelings are left on the other side of wall . We are caged within our walls of desires. 

These desires create a need in us. They have to be fed properly or the outburst is like a flood which erodes everything in it’s way.

Krishna told us desire is the root of all evils but it’s another part of truth that these can never be avoided. He too, I think had a desire to see his fulfilling eternal plan of recreating a new world. A beginning of new era. I feel this thirst can’t be quenched ever. Draupadi’s desire to be loved deeply and truly but was mocked in a way that even God’s shed tears. Pandavas desire to rule Hastinapur destroyed their home, got their sons, elders and all those whom they had loved and cherished killed. Duryodhan’s desire to see the destruction of Pandavas created so much heat in heart that it’s fumes blinded him and caused the death of his whole clan. 

Karna’s desire to belong and loved by his teacher, friends and a mother broke his heart that even the kavach (a protective shield) gifted to him by his biological father, Lord Sun, couldn’t protect his heart from shattering into tiny shards. In order to attain knowledge from his Guru Parshuram (he only imparted knowledge to Brahmins and despised kshatriyas) he lied to him, that he was a adopted by a charioteer of low caste (and in an event he doubted Karna of being a Kashtriya). In turn Karna was cursed by him that in the the hour of need he’ll forget everything he had learnt. His own mother asked for his Kavach, which could have saved his life, but she desired the life of her legitimate children more than her mistake in the form of Karna.

Most of all he longed for Draupadi, who questioned his low caste in the assembly of all noble men who gathered for her swaymvar, a quest for her hand in marriage. He could have fought against every scrutinized look in his way, but not her’s. So enigmatic that her beauty troubled and ached his heart and words pierced it like a sword. Guess it’s just our Karma.

So stay away from desire they crawl upon your mind like a snake does on sandalwood tree. They incinerate your heart with uncontrollable emotions and  after actions just result in the shattered remains of skeleton of our soul.