How To Get Rid Of Desires

Sri Ramana Maharshi

12-4-1946 Afternoon

A visitor had given Bhagavan a piece of paper on which he had scribbled in pencil a number of questions. When I went into the hall about 3 p.m., Bhagavan was trying to decipher them and turning round to me said, “Here is a question paper.” 

Question 1: How to get rid of credulousness? The visitor’s problem was that he starts with some ideal recommended to him, but when others come and recommend other ideals, he feels inclined to believe them and give up his old ideals. 

B: Yes. Yes. Our whole trouble is that we are credulous. We believe in everything except the reality. We must give up all our false beliefs and that is the only thing we have to do. Then the reality will shine by itself.

Question 2: I start with great keenness toward some ideal. But gradually I get slack. What should I do to prevent it, and what is the reason for this happening?

B: Just as there must have been a reason for your keenness at one time, there must be a reason for getting slack also later on.

Question 3: There are a number of spiritual teachers, teaching various paths. Whom should one take for one’s Guru?

B: Choose that one where you find you get shanti (or peace).

Question 4: What is the best way of dealing with desires, with a view to getting rid of them — satisfying them or suppressing them?

B: If a desire can be got rid of by satisfying it, there will be no harm in satisfying such a desire. But desires generally are not eradicated by satisfaction. Trying to root them out that way is like pouring spirits to quench fire. At the same time, the proper remedy is not forcible suppression, since such repression is bound to react sooner or later into forceful surging up with undesirable consequences. The proper way to get rid of a desire is to find out "Who gets the desire? What is its source?" When this is found, the desire is rooted out and it will never again emerge or grow. Small desires such as the desire to eat, drink and sleep and attend to calls of nature, though these may also be classed among desires, you can safely satisfy. They will not implant vasanas in your mind, necessitating further birth. Those activities are just necessary to carry on life and are not likely to develop or leave behind vasanas or tendencies. As  a general rule, therefore, there is no harm in satisfying a desire where the satisfaction will not lead to further desires by creating vasanas in the mind.

Question 5: What is the meaning of OM?

B: OM is everything. It is another name for Brahman.