Your Heart's Desire

To grow spiritually, you don't need to give up your BMW, become celibate, or banish all your aspirations.

By Rod Stryker

The Dharma of Desire
In part, the current widespread disdain toward desire among yogis may come from a somewhat unbalanced focus on certain classical teachings. For example, Patanjali, the revered father of classical yoga, made it clear that ragas and dveshas (likes and dislikes) are two of the five kleshas (the fundamental restrictions that cause suffering) and are born from avidya (ignorance or misapprehension of our true nature). And the fourth patriarch of Zen neatly summed up today's prevailing attitudes toward desire and spirituality: "The Great Way is easy for those who have no preferences." But a deeper look into the classical teachings reveals a sophisticated and nuanced approach to understanding desire.

According to the Vedas—the source of yoga science and philosophy, as well as an inspiration for Buddhist teachings—desire is so inextricably interwoven with who you are that if aspiration were ever to completely end, so would your life. Vedic wisdom says that Atman (Soul or Self) has two aspects. On the one hand, it needs or wants nothing and is a constant emanation and revelation of the Absolute; it is inseparable from and equivalent to the source of everything. But this paramatman (supreme soul) describes only half of the story.

Soul also has a second aspect called the jivamatman (individual soul). Jivamatman is your karmic blueprint, containing your precise and particular blend of spirit and matter (spirit's version of no two thumbprints being exactly alike).

Jiva determines the time and place of your birth, as well as the parents that best allow you to further your evolution so you can play out your role in the infinite web of divine will. The jivamatman dictates your singular strengths and weaknesses, and, at the deepest levels, your aspirations or desires. The jiva is the seed of your Dharma (purpose), of who you are meant to be. Just as a cucumber seed's Dharma is to be a cucumber plant, every one of us has our own Dharma or destiny, a calling to fully bloom as a unique expression of the Divine.

The point is that aspiration is no more separate from your soul or essence than wet is from water. Although it's true that a part of you remains permanently fulfilled and content, needing or wanting nothing, another part, just as significant, is by its nature striving. It is essential to embrace both these parts of Self equally. One is not higher than the other. They are just different expressions of the playfulness of the one presence that pervades the universe: the dance of dynamic and static, of seen and seer, of Shakti (limitless creative power) and Shiva (the static source of everything).

The Vedas teach that there are four types of desires: artha, kama, dharma, and moksha. Artha refers to the desire for material comfort. We all require shelter and security (money, in our culture) to have the freedom to pursue our other needs. Kama refers to pleasure: sensory gratification, comfort, and sensual intimacy. Dharma, as stated earlier, refers to our purpose—the answer we arrive at by asking, "What am I here to do?"

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