We
are surrounded by various types of people in society. Attracted by their different
personalities, we often try to imitate them. For instance, if our neighbour buys a
coloured T.V., we too, tend to replace our Black and White T.V. with a coloured one.
Similarly, if some one in our neighbourhood goes in for the latest model of scooter, we
too try to get a similar one; our old modelled scooter starts looking cart-like. To go a
step further, on seeing some one owning a big house, we too develop a desire to have one
even bigger than his; on seeing some one well dressed, we too want to discard our present
clothes and go in for those resembling to his. Even the newspaper we buy is not because it
is to our liking but because our neighbour reads it. In other words we spend our whole
life in the pursuit of such borrowed desires. Though these borrowed desires should be
discarded but at the same time they can prove useful, if put to use in a healthy
competition context.
Therefore,
we should not desist from making efforts to fulfill our desires in life. We ought to seek
necessary comforts of life, but should never look down upon our present lot. We should
shun those comforts of life, which ultimately lead us astray. We should learn to exercise
self-restraint under all circumstances. Feeling satisfied with what we possess, we should
endeavour to fulfill our genuine desires in life, treading the right path.
If
we ponder deeply over the desires we harbour, we would find that all these desires are
insignificant, for they are all borrowed. Since these desires do not come from within but
out of a desire to emulate others, they are bound to be un-real. Hence they remain
suppressed in us and never see the light of the day. Exactly so, our desire of
self-realisation does not succeed until it comes form within. We are, in fact, overwhelmed
by the unending desires in life which crop up as a result of imitations of others; the
result is that we remain deprived of the attainment of our real happiness. Of course, for
attainment we must nurse a strong desire. May we, therefore, learn to cherish desires, so
that we can struggle in life.
But generally we get ourselves so much entangled in fulfilling the so-called borrowed desires that it becomes difficult for us to discriminate between the real and the un-real. And to fulfill them, we often compromise to take recourse to right or wrong. As a result thereof, we develop base tendencies such as hatred, jealousy, malice and temptations. All these tendencies culminate in a down-fall and our whole life becomes miserable. Perhaps, we go on bearing with the discomforts in the hope of attaining the pleasures of life.