Desires Are the Root Cause of Man’s Disturbance

All the spiritual practices that man performs aims at making his mind steady. There is no use in constantly repeating God’s name, meditating, and practicing spiritual austerities if the mind is not steady. Once you have the five senses under control, you can experience God. He is not far away from you. He is in you, below you, above you, and all around you. God, in fact, is the indweller of man. Yet man is not able to see Him. What is the reason? Man’s limitless and wayward desires prevent him from seeing God.

Desires are the root cause of man’s disturbance. Sense control and ceiling on desires will help him to see God all around and experience bliss. So, we have to keep our desires in check. We should not be worried by the evil talk that others indulge in. We should not be affected by calumny and criticism.

Control the Five Senses

Buddha wanted to control the five senses. He decided, first and foremost, to acquire right vision. Man today is not able to control his vision because of the fickleness of his mind. Cinema, video, TV, etc., have polluted the mind of man. He does not see good and hear good. Man is the cause of his own restlessness.

Besides right vision, Buddha emphasised the need for right hearing, right speech, right feeling, and right thinking. Due to lack of these, humanness is fast giving way to devilishness and beastliness. Animal qualities are fast increasing in man. Animals have a season and a reason, but man has none. Man today has become worse than animals. Human qualities like compassion, kindness, love, and forbearance are absent in him. He should be free from evil thoughts, which are the root cause of his worries. This requires constant and sustained practice.

Master the Mind, and Be a Mastermind

Man can control the mind and attain peace by constant and sustained practice. It is only in a peaceful mind that noble thoughts arise. The mind should be under the control of man. Master the mind, and be a mastermind. Unfortunately, instead of controlling the mind, man has become the slave of his senses. That is the main cause of his unsteadiness. Moreover, he has body attachment. This is the reason he gets easily disturbed if people find fault with him. Why should he worry about the body when the body is like a water bubble? You should get rid of body attachment.

Do Not Trigger the Negative Aspect of Nature

Man has to consider himself as a limb of society and help in the welfare of society, just as the organs of one’s body are used for one’s well-being. Again society is a limb of Nature, and Nature is a limb of the Supreme Lord. Thus there is a close relationship between man and God.

Nature is more progressive than man, and to protect Nature, man has to exploit it within limits. When man tampers with Nature recklessly, it reacts adversely and trouble arises. In order to protect Nature, man has to practise ceiling on desires. He should not trigger the negative aspect of Nature.

In this respect, scientists have no concern for the harmful effects that may accrue to society by their inventions. They do not care for the welfare of mankind and go on making use of intelligence to produce their weapons of destruction. Care should be exercised in providing comforts, as excessive comforts may spoil man’s mind and cause misery instead of happiness. Nothing good can be achieved without restraints.

Because of the advancement of technology and provision of excessive comforts, life has become mechanical and spirituality has declined. Science fragments everything to pieces, whereas spirituality builds up unity in diversity. Today man is not making efforts to cultivate the feeling of oneness among humanity.

Intimate Relationship of Man, God, and Nature

For example, the ozone layer in the atmosphere protects the people on Earth from the evil effects of solar radiation. Because of the advance of technology, several factories have sprung up, causing emission of harmful gases in the atmosphere. As a result, the ozone layer has become thinner, and if this goes on unchecked, it may have disastrous consequences. Scientists are trying to stop the breakup of the ozone layer, but they are unable to find a remedy.

The actual cause for this situation is that more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Normally carbon dioxide is absorbed by plants and trees, which can assimilate the gas and supply oxygen by the natural process of photosynthesis. But, because there is deforestation to an alarming extent, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has considerably increased. Therefore the remedy for this situation is intensive afforestation, growing more trees everywhere and protecting the existing trees without destroying them for other purposes. Thus the relationship of man, Nature, and God is very intimate, which scientists may not be able to realise.