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On Desires - Quotes from Hindu Scriptures

A collection of quotes on desires from Hindu scriptures.

All your desires will be fulfilled in him who is One without a second. Know him to be enshrined in your heart always. (Shvetashvatara Upanishad)

You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)

It is hard to find a man who has desire for what he has not tasted or who tastes the world and is untouched. Here in the world some crave pleasure, some seek freedom but it is hard to find a man who wants neither. It is hard to find a man who has an open mind, who neither seeks nor shuns wealth or pleasure, duty or liberation, life or death…He does not want the world to end. He does not mind if it lasts. Whatever befalls him, He lives in happiness. (Ashtavakra Gita)

The senses are the horses and the roads they travel are the mazes of desire. When a man lacks discrimination and his mind is uncontrolled, his senses are unmanageable like the restive horses of a charioteer. But when a man has discrimination and his mind is controlled, his senses, like the well-broken horses of a charioteer, lightly obey the rein. (Katha Upanishad)