Hari OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
This is one of the words which can take us in endless directions! One of the greatest spiritual tasks is to observe and temper our worldly desires and supplant them with spiritual ones.
Note that it was not said here that desire was to be eliminated - even though, ultimately, it must be. There can be no action whatsoever without there first being a desire. The anatomy of action is;
Vaasana - wherein lies the seed of desire
Desire - the rising of a wish or longing for something
Thought - the assessment and justification of the desire
Action - signal is given to move towards attainment of the desired object/outcome
Satisfaction - the desire is quenched by the attainment of that object/outcome
It is an endless cycle. The 'happiness' we feel only lasts for as long as we feel satisfied. In this world of the unrelenting bombardment of 'you must have this, how could you not? Life is incomplete without…' it can be very difficult to remember that it is all just stuff. There is very little stuff which addresses the basic needs of shelter, sustenance and spiritual gain. Consumerism thrives on the basic instinct of desire. We, intelligent though we think we are, fall for the tag-lines and cute presentations.
Desire is what drives us forward. It is not necessarily negative. What matters is the focus of our desire. It can take a long time, and sometimes never, to realise that the endless grind of earn, buy, sell, earn, buy more is barren without there being a sound philosophy to brighten life. If we can make our key desire that of raising our personality to more divine levels, all the stuff will sit in its rightful place. It will be there, but will not 'own us'. Neither will we anymore feel unfulfilled because we don't have the latest whatchyamacallit or dinderybangdungery.
Work on your desires; root out the excess and worldly, nourish the desire to rise above these. Fund the desire to live the divine life.
