37.1 Elimination of Desires

 37.1 Elimination of Desires 

Question:

What happens if one eliminates all his desires?

 

Answer:

The final release from the chain of births and deaths will come only

to those who sever all attachments; others will continue to linger

in the impermanence of births and deaths.                                                 (Couplet – 349)

 

The elimination of insatiable desires will immediately confer

a state of eternal bliss that never changes.                                                  (Couplet – 370)

 

பற்றற்ற கண்ணே பிறப்பறுக்கும் மற்று

நிலையாமை காணப் படும்.                                    (குறள் – 349)

 

ஆரா இயற்கை அவாநீப்பின் அந்நிலையே

பேரா இயற்கை தரும்.                                                (குறள் – 370)

 

Explanation:

Desire is defined as a feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. On the other hand, attachment is not wanting to be separated from someone or something. Desire is the root cause of attachment. Valluvar, as well as Vedic religion, Jainism, and Buddhism, assert that attachments result in several births, and to be free from the endless chain of births, one should eliminate all attachments. Since desire is the root cause of attachment, one should eliminate all desires to be free from attachments. Once someone has no attachments, he neither experiences sorrow nor joy, and such a state is called eternal bliss. Once someone has eliminated all desires and attachments and attained eternal bliss, his soul does not undergo any more births, and it continues to be in its natural state without any change.