We need to free ourselves from the destructive curse of desire. How? Buddha tells us plainly:
“While in the same way that rain cannot break into a well-roofed house, desire cannot break into a mind that has been practicing meditation well” (Dhammapada 14).
Many people claim to be practicing meditation, but Buddha spoke of Right Meditation when enumerating the components of the Aryan Eightfold Path. When desire remains on the rampage in the mind of the “meditator” he should realize that:
- his meditation method is defective;
- his practice of the method is defective;
- some elements in his inner and outer life are preventing success in meditation.
If, after checking carefully, he finds that his practice is not incorrect and his way of living and thinking is not wrong, he must face up to the unhappy truth that the methodology itself and association with the one who taught it to him should be abandoned and a right form of meditation adopted. For when the meditation practice is correct–and is being engaged in for the necessary amount of time–desire becomes increasingly attenuated and finally annihilated altogether. This is verifiable through our own practice and experience.
Jesus expounded it this way: “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock” (Luke 6:47, 48), the rock of meditative gnosis. Those who go deep in meditation and make the consciousness of the spirit gained thereby the foundation of their life will know peace of mind and heart–no other.
In summation: “Make a habit of practicing meditation, and do not let your mind be distracted. In this way you will come finally to the Lord, who is the light-giver, the highest of the high” (Bhagavad Gita 8:8).
Further Reading: