Day 26

The essence of Shiva is joy. People often say, "When you remove the energy of desire, then you can see Shiva." That wish to remove the desire itself becomes a desire. 

When you say, "I want to eliminate desire," what happens? Desires do not need your permission to arise. 

Do they arise by themselves or do they request your permission to appear? You are hungry, and so there is a desire to eat, and when you are thirsty, there is a desire to drink. 

Desires seem to arise automatically. When you struggle with a desire, how is it possible to relinquish the desire? You may feel that once you fulfill a desire. 

Then you will be happy and contented, but this situation never happens. If you want contentment, then be content right now and do not wait until all your desires are fulfilled. 

People run after desires, constantly seeking contentment. Knowledge of the self, or yoga, is knowing, "I am l contentment. My nature is l contentment." 

Who can give contentment to a contented person? Therefore desire is Uma, the virgin. The energy of desires gives you false confidence that it will bring contentment. 

It creates an illusion that it will lead you to contentment, but this is an fantasy. Uma remains a virgin, meditating upon Shiva. 

Have you seen the photo of

Kanyakumari? It shows a beautiful young woman meditating on Shiva and holding a rosary.

Every desire meditates only on Shiva. Whatever desire you may have, what is the goal of that desire? It is to lead you to happiness. India lies between Kailash and Kanyakumari. 

Kailash means happiness. "Kai"

and "las", where there is happiness and celebration. What is vaikuntha? The place where there is no scarcity. "Kuntha" means scarcity, and "vai" means absence, so the place without scarcity. 

People visit Kailash and Man Sarovar as part of a pilgrimage, a yatra. Man Sarovar is the lake that represents the mind. Our ancestors honoured the mind so much. 

How is it possible to reach Kailash if the mind is a virgin woman, frozen and unmoving? The mind will find Kailash in itself when it becomes vast like a lake. 

It will attain the height that is devoid of scarcity and full of joy. So Kailash means happiness and Kanyakumari is desire. Desire gazes at the peak while in the south it meditates, suffering misery and pain, hoping to reach that goal. 

People that say, "Cut off and

throw away your desire," do not know what they are talking about. You cannot remove desire with this method. 

You can honour it and be a witness to it. The desire for renunciation or for liberation is also a desire. You may have rejected all the desires of this world, but then the desire for liberation arises. 

That desire is also Shiva. That same Shiva is meditated on by the virgin woman. Since ancient times in India we have been told to be useful to others and to wish wellbeing to all. 

After meditation, your consciousness is uplifted. During meditation, there may be no desires, but once you finish meditating, wish for everyone's wellbeing. 

You may fear desires, but when you have overcome fear, why would you desire petty gains? Let happiness be wide-spread and unlimited. 

Desire for this happiness and for the prosperity and well-being of all. Even in the Jain tradition they say to desire for bliss or happiness. 

Buddhism proclaims, may all be happy, this is the desire they express. Both have the same meaning. All the religions of the world, including Hinduism, Islam and Christianity have the same wish for everyone's happiness. 

Thus, desire continues, and we cannot say that this wish is the start or end of desire. Desire is continual. It has no end, just like having food. 

You eat day in and day out. The desire of prakriti, of nature, never ends. If this were to happen, all of nature would come to a stand-still. 

The desire of nature existed in the past and is here now, just like waves of the sea, rising and falling. If you stand on the beach at Kanyakumari, you can see the meeting place of two seas and an ocean. 

What do these three represent? They represent the three states- waking, dreaming and deep sleep. They also represent the three gunas - sattva, rajas and tamas. 

There are 3 types of desire - sattvic desires, rajasic desires and tamasic desires. The virgin Kanyakumari watches all three, remembering Shiva. 

In the world, all people are searching for Shiva, they are looking for that limitless, boundless happiness, which they are. Do not think that a person will be completely happy once all desires are fulfilled. 

If all desires were to be fulfilled, he would become depressed. Depression is a problem more among the rich than among the poor. 

The poor have a desire for something more, and as long as they have that desire, they will not fall into depression. A person becomes depressed when his desire is fulfilled very quickly. 

Therefore, you find more mental illness in developed countries, where 3 out of 1 children see a psychiatrist. Why do so many in the West become hippies? 

This is also due to depression. The faster desires become fulfilled, the faster misery comes. A person also becomes sad when his desire is unfulfilled, but one whose every desire gets fulfilled is in a worse state. 

So, when Uma Kumari, who has the energy of desire, which is a virgin, when she acquires the highest knowledge, then, the whole body fills with happiness.