SIRD Malaysia

Monthly Telesatsang with Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha on  13 April 2008.

Topic: Needs & Wants.

Unnikrishnan: Pranams Swamiji. Twenty-six of us are gathered today. We have emailed five questions.

Swamiji: Asirvaad.

Devotee: The first question: How do we instill in children the need for attending satsangs?

Swamiji: Children here meaning below the age of adolescence? As long as children are children are children, they will always listen to the parents. You have to explain to them.  When you tell generally “I am going, you also come” , they have to come.  Only when they are adult, disobedience and disregard are possible. So long as they are children, you use your persuasion, if necessary, with a little force. Ask them come and to be present wherever you are. And being children, they will listen to you. Or just in any other walk of life, use the same correctional force to correct them.

            Once they become adolescent or adult, I don’t think you can force them. It is not necessary. You can always appeal: “See, we are parents. We have good wishes for you. I will be happy if you come. I am going there.  I think it is something very good and useful. Why should you not equally value it? Where your teachers go, will you not also go?  Just as you would go with your friends, you just come along with me.”   You can appeal in this manner. So when you appeal properly, it all depends on how well, how heartily, how lovingly and how persuasively you do it.

Devotee: The second question: Swamiji has said it’s not a crime to have righteous desires.  How do we know if a desire is righteous?

Swamiji:  See we have a body and the body has primary desires viz. food, shelter and clothing. In the same way, the mind has primary needs viz. peace and contentment. What is the need of the intelligence? Knowledge. So far as the primary needs of the body, mind and intelligence are concerned, all are righteous. You can certainly have the proper…..business…good aspirations.. ….transact your business.. all alike. 

In the same way you must have joy in the …?intelligence ……of marital relations.  The intelligence involves knowledge ….    Now suppose you go out today…….having…….marry…….Humanity is divided into two surfaces which alone decide …….. The female has a uterus in which after conception further progeny can be had.  The male body is something that ……..  So there should be a getting together of man and woman.  The manner in which this is brought is called marriage.   Marriage is a social institution.  The purpose of marriage is to preserve one’s lineage.  A boy and a girl marry….together…….. and have

……………………..children who …………. So these are all regular needs. When you marry you have to look after each other.  Whatever the needs are,  must necessarily be had by way of income. For that you have to have education to have a job with reasonable income. And once you have an income, the manner in which it has to be spent is a point of  consideration.  Suppose you have excess income, you cannot be overspending.  Some order is necessary in fulfilling the needs of life.  And the needs are very variant.  Your needs may be variant in accordance of your professional status. So the company gives a certain level of power.  And he must have a driver depending on the status he holds.  He must have corresponding needs and that need is all right.  But what you have to understand is that you cannot……..So  whatever is your income level, the expenditure cannot be too high.  Whatever is proportionate and reasonable is o.k.  Beyond that it is extravagance.  Now  these desires are not actually desires; they are actually needs.  Our body requires food for growth, it requires a place to  live. The mind requires contentment and peace. The intelligence requires knowledge.  Fulfilling all this is not at all wrong.

Devotee: The third question: Does our lifestyle and age dictate our wants and needs?

Swamiji:  You can say by and large, yes. With lifestyle and age, needs are variable. As a boy you can run. As you grow with age you will not be able to run. If something falls to the ground, you will not be able to pick it up.  What is the lifestyle you have as a father, a mother, a brother?  Whatever is necessary by virtue of our profession or status, that you must be able to  meet.  Everytime you make sure you don’t have ……….a crave or a greed.

Devotee:  The fourth question:  How does progress made from spiritual pursuit help one to reduce wants and needs?

Swamiji:  See, spiritual progress really is that progress whereby you are able to have a mind that can host any amount of joy. Even a mother, when she looks at her child, the child remains outside. By looking at the child she gets joy. This joy is produced by the child or is it originating from the mind?  If the mind is the source of joy and the mind is within your body, do you need objects to make you smile?  See, once spiritual progress gives you that mind that is the seed and source of joy, that means you are able to tap the mind………..When the mind is enriched by spiritual values and spiritual perception, automatically the mind will become joyous; automatically the greed for external wants and needs will be less and less.  To those who take to sanyaasa, this point becomes relevant.  Why did Nayaswamiji and Ma take to sanyaasa?  They gave up their professorial life and whatever income they had as all these  were not necessary.  Ma took off her gold ornaments. She removed the last piece of ornament and the garland on her neck.  Ma was looking naturally beautiful.  Do you think gold will add beauty to anybody?  So with spirituality, the mind is the seed of joy.  And when you tackle the mind properly and make it joyous, automatically the smile will be there.

Sri Rama…………could have ruled………Lanka …………….   How could he do it? Because he was spiritually sufficiently pure and great….  No I will not. …  I am under a vow…….

When the mind becomes spiritually pure, many of the external wants vanish.  This is very natural.

Devotee: The fifth question: Naturally as human beings, we feel the need to provide our loved ones with the best.  How do we know where to draw the line so that this desire does not turn into excesses?

Swamiji: You provide for your children the best, I have no objection. But make sure what is the best.  Are food for the body the best?   Or is qualities and enrichment for the mind the best?  Once you are sure that whatever is best for the child’s mind, child’s development and child’s heart, whatever they are, you lavishly provide, I have no objection.  But do not provide such tools for the senses of the body whereby the child will lose all the balance and sense of proportion and will be destroyed.  You tell me, in the whole  world …….  have those people who have amassed money and property?  I once read many years back in the Readers Digest an article that listed the 12 richest people in the world with a footnote: “all of them committed suicide”.

            You give them education. You give them discrimination. You tell them lessons from contentment, joy and fulfillment. And provide as much as possible discrimination (viveka).  You should also tell them the basics of vairagya (dispassion).  And tell them that it is wisdom that constitutes the highest human wealth.  These things you can provide.  At the same time because the body is there, give them a comfortable piece of dress, nourishing food, reasonably good cot, a table and chair where they can sit and read,  write and learn.  You repeatedly tell them that our needs need not go much higher because ultimately everything has to be dropped when we go away. 

            So this discrimination is the best of all.  You should give them the riches of the mind, the riches of the heart and riches of the intelligence; then everything will be alright. 

Devotee: Does Swamiji have a message for the group in general?

Swamiji:   I complement and bless all of you.  It seems like the satsang is becoming very useful simply because you gave gathered and formulated these questions.  That itself goes to prove that you have sufficient reflection.  Increase the measure of reflection and see that there is less desire.  Be a little more earnest and spend more time to discuss the answers I have given you.  You have to formulate your own views and standpoints.  Then take some practice points complementary to your own life.  Arrive at your own  ……. self growth.  Asirvad.

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End of Telesatsang.

Recorded by Rema and Sotheeswari on 13 April 2008.

WAV file transcribed by Swaminathan and  emailed to Ashram on 14 April 2008.

Appendix complied by Rema:

SIRD Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Tele-satsang:   Sunday 13 April 2008

TOPIC: NEEDS & WANTS

Swamiji says, “The wealth acquired through righteous pursuit should be used righteously for enjoying the sweet aspects of life. Don’t think that it is a crime to have desires (wants) but the desires have to be righteous.” (Prabhata Rasmih, pg. 87)

In the light of what Swamiji has said above, should a true sadhak address his needs and not his wants? How can we reconcile between our needs and wants`?

Discussion questions to help us reflect and analyze so that we can answer the questions above:

1. What are your needs? What are your wants? List down some of your righteous wants. Consider the following:

• Send your son to America for studies for a course that is offered locally.
• Buy a gold locket for your daughter / loved one as a birthday gift.
• Buy and move to a bigger house.
• Order home delivery pizza.
• Landscape your garden by yourself or by hiring a consultant.
• Get an Internet connection or wireless connection.

2. What items do you easily buy because you have convinced yourself they are needs when they really are wants?  (Think of a time when you turned a want into a need.)

·        What did you want so much that it became a need?

·        Did you go ahead and get it? If not, what stopped you?

·        Was that special want/need really as rewarding as you had thought?

·        What would you do differently next time?

3.  How can we keep our minds contented and balanced? What are some of the difficulties that you encounter?

We have one hour for discussion and it may not be possible to discuss in detail every question. Take a few minutes to go through the questions then share one important point with the rest of the group.

Group leader should ensure that everyone gets time to share their thoughts.

Is there a question for Swamiji:

End