Learning to be free from desires is learning how to stay peaceful. Desires are the cause of all conflicts. Desires cause peace to disappear. When we want something and cannot get it, we become frustrated. We think acquiring things will make us feel secure, but the reality is the more you have the more fear you have of losing it and the further you are from peace.
If I am not getting what I want or need, I may need to adopt a different approach. Instead of focusing on my own desires, perhaps I need to understand I am not getting what I want for a reason—perhaps I am not ready for it yet. Everything has its own time to happen. When I concentrate instead on giving to others, I will find what I need comes to me naturally. Patience teaches us to sow the seed in the form of right actions and to allow the fruits of those actions to ripen in their own time. I do not need to think about the future benefits of what I am doing now, because I know I will receive what I need when the time is right. When I let go of expectations and allow things to develop in their own time, I enjoy what I am doing in the present, and the future automatically becomes good.
Most of us are now well-trained to perceive and focus on the negative, the selfishness in others, and to follow it quickly with accusation and judgment. What we choose to see is usually what we get. We reap what we sow. We forget that what we see in others is what we empower within others. More importantly, what we perceive, we absorb and empower within ourselves at the same time. So how important is it to choose to see only the best, the highest, the greatest in another, even if it is only a half a per cent? When you look at another, do not look at their weakness or tell them what to do; see them with a vision of love. With spiritual love, no matter how socially distanced we may be, working together in mind and spirit can help us achieve great things. Spiritual love brings about a sense of equality and unity. Spiritual love heals us. This is what the world needs at this time.
Chirya Yvonne Risely is a Rajyoga meditation teacher based at the Brahma Kumaris Peace Village Retreat Center, USA.