Desireless Performance Can Produce The Best Results
from the books of Speaking Tree
People often question whether anybody can
work sincerely and efficiently without desire. Sincerity becomes natural, and
efficiency peaks when actions are no longer motivated by desires. Desire makes
the mind cling to future gain or loss instead of the present task. It
accompanies expectation, anxiety, and fear and affects attention and
performance.
We are born with an insufficiency that makes
us look for happiness externally. We are born with the delusion that something
from the world will fulfil that lack and make us happy.
Has anybody ever become permanently
happy by gaining anything from the world-money, power, companionship,fame or
appreciation? Even the most overwhelming happiness lasts until the mind picks
up some other lack or a fear of losing what we have gained. It is not the
fulfilment of our desires that makes us happy It is the elimination of desires
that truly makes us happy.
When a desire is fulfilled, the mind becomes 'desireless' for a while. It remains contented and peaceful until another desire for gaining something or fear of losing something agitates it again. It is the undisturbed state of the mind that makes us happy. It reveals for a while the placid joy that is always there within as a natural characteristic of our inmost identity, the Self. It is like seeing the bottom of the lake clearly when there are no waves or ripples. That is why we experience unprecedented joy or bliss in meditation, when the whole world is forgotten, and the mind is absorbed in its Source.
The day we realise that joy comes from
within, it is a natural property of our Self, we understand that desires make
us unhappy because they take us away from the Self. If joy lies within,why
should we chase external objects that give us pleasure? If we do not expect
happiness from the objective result of our work, what will be the motivation
for work? The motivation for work will be just the objective result of the
action, and not gaining happiness from the desired objective result.
Without desire, our mind will be
naturally placid and fulfilled. We shall do whatever the circumstances need and
what is within our capacity. No more shall we work expecting happiness. We will
do whatever is to be done as an expression of joy, and such desireless
performance can produce the best objective results.
Several activities are constantly
going on in the universe. Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Moon revolves
around Earth. Rivers flow. Plants grow. Flowers blossom-each with its own
colour and beauty. Nowhere is there desire. When desires are diminished, we
blossom like flowers in our natural behaviour, nature, spreading joy.
