A collection of quotes and teachings on Desire by Swami Vivekananda.
When we seek enjoyment, we become objects of enjoyment for others. Desire thus enfolds both the subject and the object in its ambit, uses and wears both down.
When we seek enjoyment, we become objects of enjoyment for others. Desire thus enfolds both the subject and the object in its ambit, uses and wears both down.
We came here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and
feet sticking to it.
We are caught, though we came to catch.
We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed.
We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are
being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of
our life.
We are being worked upon by other minds, and we are always
struggling to work on other minds.
We want to enjoy the pleasures of life; and they eat into
our vitals.
We want to get everything from nature, but we find in the
long run that nature
takes everything from us—depletes us, and casts us aside.
(Source of above quotes - Prabuddha Bharata Magazine September 2013)
There is no misery where there is no want. Desire is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by the laws of success and failure.
Artificial wants have been created; and every poor man, whether he has money or not, desires to have those wants satisfied and when he cannot, he struggles and dies in the struggle. This is the result.
I do not see that what you call progress in the world is other than the multiplication of desires. If one thing is obvious to me it is this that desires bring all misery; it is the state of the beggar, who is always begging for something, and unable to see anything without the wish to possess it, is always longing, longing for more. If the power to satisfy our desire is increasing in arithmetic progression, the power of desire is increased in geometrical progression.
Desire, ignorance and inequality – this is the trinity of bondage.
So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come.
(Source of above quotes - Prabuddha Bharata Magazine September 2013)
There is no misery where there is no want. Desire is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by the laws of success and failure.
Artificial wants have been created; and every poor man, whether he has money or not, desires to have those wants satisfied and when he cannot, he struggles and dies in the struggle. This is the result.
I do not see that what you call progress in the world is other than the multiplication of desires. If one thing is obvious to me it is this that desires bring all misery; it is the state of the beggar, who is always begging for something, and unable to see anything without the wish to possess it, is always longing, longing for more. If the power to satisfy our desire is increasing in arithmetic progression, the power of desire is increased in geometrical progression.
Desire, ignorance and inequality – this is the trinity of bondage.
So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come.
To him who desires nothing, and does not mix himself with them, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.
We have seen how false desires are the cause of all the misery and evil we suffer, but when they are thus deified, purified, through God, they bring no evil, they bring no misery.
The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession, comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind!