How to Become Desire Free?

“Any type of desire is beggary. One who is without any desire is called ‘Gnani’ [the Enlightened One]”- Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan
Desires are of two types.
- One is a rising desire, and
- The other is the setting desire.
Just like the sun rising and setting, there are rising desires and setting desires.

Rising desires always burn us, whereas setting desires do not burn us.

A rising desire when starts, will burn us and make us restless until we achieve that. That is the root cause for creating karmas and wandering in the world. Setting desires simply arise, but they do not make us restless. It does not make any difference to us, even if the desires are fulfilled or not.

The setting desires will be there till our body is there. However, the rising desires can be stopped by awakening our Soul (Enlightenment). One can live without rising desires; the setting desires are enough for our living. In setting desires, there is no Ego. When there is no ego, there is no suffering. And still, all our day-to-day life’s chores and duties will go on with the setting desires.

You must have seen some drama. In a drama, the actor does all the acting. He acts like a father, son, king, etc. Sometimes he cries during a tragic scene and he laughs during the comedy scenes. He plays all the roles, but simultaneously, he is aware that ‘I am not the king’, ‘I am John (the actor’s name)’. Similarly in this worldly drama, you play all the roles. Still inside, you will be aware (after Enlightenment) that, ‘I am really not John (please insert your name here), I am pure Soul’. All desires are the desires of John in the worldly drama. Inside, you are not after any desires. This awareness happens spontaneously and automatically at the moment of Enlightenment.

Enlightenment is to get the right belief of ‘Who am I’ and get rid of all the wrong beliefs. What are our wrong beliefs? We believe that, ‘I am John (please insert your name here), I am his father, I am her husband, I am an Engineer, I am sincere, I have so many desires, and so on.’ Whenever you superimpose ‘I’ where ‘I’ does not belong, it is a wrong belief. The right understanding is: ‘My name is John, I am not John. John is a father, husband, Engineer; not I. John is sincere, and John is the one who has desires, not I. Then, Who am I? Realizing that ‘I’ is ‘Enlightenment’.

When we know what Soul (‘I’) and non-Soul (everything else other than Soul) are, all desires will vanish. We will not charge (create) any new desires after getting Enlightened. However, the desires charged in our previous life are discharged in this life.

We have desires because of Moha (the illusion that attaches). A woman passing by a shop sees a beautiful sari and becomes engrossed in it. Her desire to want the sari is the discharge (setting) desire that arises in this life. This is called charitra moh (illusory attachment in discharge or effect). She has no control over that desire. The desire arises because she might have charged in her previous life that she would like to buy such a beautiful sari (rising desire). So, in this life, when she passes by a shop and looks at such sari, the desire arises. She saw the sari and ‘liked it’ is her discharge moha. But because she becomes engrossed in it, the moha that was in the process of being discharged, charges again. She is so captivated by the sari that she actually becomes the length and breadth of the sari! She believes that she is a woman and she likes the sari. The belief that ‘I am this, I am doing this’ is called darshan moha (based on the conviction that ‘I am John’). Karmas get charged as long as there is darshan moha.

After Self-realization through the Akram path (step-less Science of Self-realization), the darshan moha (that charged new desires) stops, and charitra moha (discharge of the desires already charged in the past) remains. The discharge of desires cannot be suppressed even if you want to stop. However, the desires become mild because due to the awareness of the Self, you will not get entangled with the desires. You will understand that it is the discharge desire, and it may or may not be fulfilled depending on the circumstances. You will not have any attachment or hatred towards those involved in fulfilling the desires. You will simply be an observer. Only after you complete all the discharge karmas, can you attain ultimate liberation.

The ‘Eternal Thing’ (Soul) cannot be attained where there is even the subtlest desire. However, we do not have to put in efforts to stop the desires. After attaining Self-realization from the Gnani, no new desires will arise. The discharge desires will be finished effortlessly. Hence, let’s attain Enlightenment from the living Gnani and become free from all desires.

Authored by: Dada Bhagwan