Fulfilling A Desire
When we speak of dreams coming true, we are talking about some form of desire. Beyond the basic necessities for food, water, and shelter, which are enough to satisfy the desire to survive, human beings invent countless other desires. What we all experience is that some of our desires come true while others don’t. That seems clear enough, but in fact people approach this simple fact from very different angles. If asked, “How do you get what you want?” or an even bigger issue, “How do you make a dream come true?” people will offer answers that aren’t at all compatible.
Fulfilling a desire could require hard work or the opposite, total surrender. If something wonderful falls into your lap, does it matter if God or random chance caused it? These appear to be exact opposites, yet in India’s wisdom tradition, the Bhagavad-Gita fuses opposites when Lord Krishna says, “Perform action without attachment to the fruits of action.” In other words, use focus, determination, and hard work all you want, but stay detached about the outcome.” In that dictum a commitment to action and surrender to the outcome are fused.
Follow your dream but remember this: desire is the universe’s evolutionary tool. This is a clear-eyed statement, reflecting what we all experience. The self unfolds over a life span through growing desires, moving from infancy to adulthood. Detachment occurs naturally as childish things no longer possess any charm and the desires of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood make new claims. Finally, one arrives at the mature adult who can formulate a vision of life and aspire to spiritual understanding. Then the path of desire and the path of consciousness both come to fruition.
