What is desire? Who takes rebirth? How to renounce? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
“He who cherishes desires and his mind dwells with his longings is by his desires born again wherever they lead him but the man who has won all his desires and has found his soul for him, even here in this world vanish away all desires.” ~Mundaka Upanishad
Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, if my desires are not fulfilled, my desires from childhood are still there, they have not been fulfilled. Does that imply that I will be reborn again to have those desires fulfilled?
AP: What does it mean to be reborn? It means, that to fulfill a desire, you have to assume a role corresponding to the fulfillment of that desire. That is rebirth. You see, you might be sitting like a scholar here or a listener here but if you're desirous of, let's say the most common object of desire, a woman; then you will need to change your role from a scholar to a casanova. Every desire requires you to become something else. Therefore, desires and the concept of “myth of rebirth” are very closely linked. To want something is to become that that will chase that something.
To want something is to want it in future and therefore to want something is to condemn yourself to stay put till the future. Do you get it? You are lodged in this place, let's say for four days. On the fourth day, you become desirous of something in the market and the fellow, the shop owner tells you he will deliver it, the good that you desire, to your room - to your doorsteps two days later. Now you were to check out on the fourth day but because you have a desire and the desire is promising to get fulfilled in the future; therefore, you will have to stay put in this hotel for another two days.
