Spiritual desire

Expressions researched:
"desire for spiritual" |"desire spiritual" |"desires actual spiritual" |"desires spiritual" |"desiring for spiritual" |"spiritual desire" |"spiritual desires" |"spiritual master's desire"

SB Canto 4

One who is ready to sacrifice anything to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be said to have spiritual desire.

SB 4.8.35, Purport:

There are various classes of men. One class is called akāmīs, referring to those who have no material desire. Desire must exist, either material or spiritual. Material desire arises when one wants to satisfy one's personal senses. One who is ready to sacrifice anything to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be said to have spiritual desire. Dhruva did not accept the instruction given by the great saint Nārada because he thought himself unfit for such instruction, which prohibited all material desires. It is not a fact, however, that those who have material desires are prohibited from worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the essential instruction from the life of Dhruva. He frankly admitted that his heart was full of material desires. He was very much affected by the cruel words of his stepmother, whereas those who are spiritually advanced do not care about anyone's condemnation or adoration.

SB Canto 5

Whatever one desires can be attained simply by hearing, chanting and glorifying the activities of Mahārāja Bharata. In this way, one can fulfill all his material and spiritual desires.

SB 5.14.46, Purport:

Devotees interested in hearing and chanting (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam) regularly discuss the pure characteristics of Bharata Mahārāja and praise his activities. If one submissively hears and chants about the all-auspicious Mahārāja Bharata, one's life span and material opulences certainly increase. One can become very famous and easily attain promotion to the heavenly planets, or attain liberation by merging into the existence of the Lord. Whatever one desires can be attained simply by hearing, chanting and glorifying the activities of Mahārāja Bharata. In this way, one can fulfill all his material and spiritual desires. One does not have to ask anyone else for these things, for simply by studying the life of Mahārāja Bharata, one can attain all desirable things."

SB Canto 7

Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, however, one must be free from all material desires.

SB 7.10.8, Purport:

As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, kāmaṁ hṛd-rogam. Materialistic life means that one is afflicted by a formidable disease called lusty desire. Liberation means freedom from lusty desires because it is only due to such desires that one must accept repeated birth and death. As long as one's lusty desires are unfulfilled, one must take birth after birth to fulfill them. Because of material desires, therefore, one performs various types of activities and receives various types of bodies with which to try to fulfill desires that are never satisfied. The only remedy is to take to devotional service, which begins when one is free from all material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). Anya-abhilāṣitā means "material desire," and śūnyam means "free from." The spiritual soul has spiritual activities and spiritual desires, as described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, however, one must be free from all material desires. Desirelessness means freedom from material desires. This is described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). As soon as one has material desires, one loses his spiritual identity. Then all the paraphernalia of one's life, including one's senses, body, religion, patience and intelligence, are deviated from one's original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as one has material desires, one cannot properly use his senses, intelligence, mind and so on for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

Any person who hears or chants these pastimes of the Lord is sure to achieve all his spiritual desires.

SB 10.14.60, Purport:

Any person who hears or chants these pastimes Lord Murāri performed with His cowherd friends—the killing of Aghāsura, the taking of lunch on the forest grass, the Lord's manifestation of transcendental forms, and the wonderful prayers offered by Lord Brahmā—is sure to achieve all his spiritual desires."

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Anyone who hears, recites or chants Lord Brahma’s prayers surely gets all his spiritual desires fulfilled.

Krsna Book 14:

Whatever is attractive within the cosmic manifestation is due to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the reservoir of all pleasure. The active principle of everything is Kṛṣṇa, and highly elevated transcendentalists see everything in connection with Him. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is stated that a mahā-bhāgavata, or highly advanced devotee, sees Kṛṣṇa as the active principle in all movable and immovable living entities. Therefore he sees everything within this cosmic manifestation in relation to Kṛṣṇa. For the fortunate person who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa as everything, liberation is already there. He is no longer in the material world. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: Whoever is engaged in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa is already on the brahma-bhūta, (SB 4.30.20) or spiritual, platform. The very name Kṛṣṇa suggests piety and liberation. Anyone who takes shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa enters the boat for crossing over the ocean of nescience. For him, this vast expanse of the material manifestation becomes as insignificant as the water in a calf's hoofprint. Kṛṣṇa is the shelter of all great souls, and He is also the shelter of the material worlds. For one who is on the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Vaikuṇṭha, or the spiritual world, is not far away. He does not live within the material world, where there is danger at every step.

In this way, Kṛṣṇa consciousness was fully explained to Mahārāja Parīkṣit by Śukadeva Gosvāmī as he recited to the King the statements and prayers of Lord Brahmā. These descriptions of Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with His cowherd boys, His eating with them on the bank of the Yamunā, and Lord Brahma's prayers unto Him are all transcendental subject matters. Anyone who hears, recites or chants them surely gets all his spiritual desires fulfilled. Thus Kṛṣṇa's childhood pastimes, His sporting with Balarāma and the cowherd boys in Vṛndāvana, were described.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

In the liberated state produced by acting under the direction of the Lord's internal, spiritual energy, the jīva's true, spiritual desires become manifest.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.4:

According to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, desire can never be nullified. While conditioned, the jīva is a repository of unlimited material desires, summarized as the catur-varga, the four goals of human life enunciated in the Vedic literature (religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, and liberation). However, in the liberated state produced by acting under the direction of the Lord's internal, spiritual energy, the jīva's true, spiritual desires become manifest. Śrī Aurobindo has discussed this subject (though not in detail), and for this we appreciate him more than Ramana Maharshi. Ramana Maharshi has more or less tried to completely choke the life out of desire. This forcible elimination of desire is spiritual suicide.

The jīva should abandon his service of the four Vedic goals, including impersonal liberation—which will altogether throttle the life out of his desire to serve—and carefully try to manifest his original spiritual desire to serve the Lord.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.4:

The jīva, being marginal, is moved by desire to serve either the manifestation of the Lord's external energy—this physical world—or the Lord Himself in spiritual world, which is an expansion of His superior, internal potency. In other words, in every situation the jīva maintains his constitutional position as a servant. Thus he cannot relieve the suffering he undergoes as a servant of this material nature by artificially giving up his desire to serve. Inherently a servant, the jīva can never forsake his desire to serve. But if he so desires, he can quit his bad service for a good one. He should abandon his service of the four Vedic goals, including impersonal liberation—which will altogether throttle the life out of his desire to serve—and carefully try to manifest his original spiritual desire to serve the Lord. Śrī Aurobindo has discussed this same point in the passage quoted above.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

So we have to change these material desires into spiritual desires. Then we get spiritual body.

Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972:

So one has to understand all these things by little tapasya. Because to go back to home, back go Godhead is not very easy thing. Because we are so much entangled with this gross material body and subtle material body. And the subtle material body is creating... Just like a spool, creating another body, another body, desires. Material desires. So we have to change these material desires into spiritual desires. Then we get spiritual body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). There... This is the function of the laws of nature.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

"I shall become one with the Supreme," that is also material desire. That is not spiritual desire.

Lecture on SB 3.25.33-34 -- Bombay, December 3, 1974:

Similarly, if you have got strong bhakti-yoga, then you are not any more in material body. You are free. You are in spiritual body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that māṁ ca yaḥ avyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate. Avyabhicāreṇa means without any deviation. Śuddha-bhakti, pure devotional service. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). They... Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam means any kind of material desire. The, this desire, that "I shall become one with the Supreme," that is also material desire. That is not spiritual desire. That is artificial.

Now, just like we want to beco..., to hold very big post. So when we are baffled, then we want to become one with the Supreme, Nārāyaṇa. That means "Nārāyaṇa is the husband of Lakṣmī, so I shall become the husband of Lakṣmī. Now, in this material world, I am hankering after Lakṣmī, but I could not get it.

Philosophy Discussions

Because the living entity is an eternal spiritual being, he has got spiritual desire.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he has read it. It is taken from Indian... It is called vāsanā. Vāsanā means desire. So that desire, material desire, but the living entity cannot be desireless. Desireless..., nirvāṇa means material desires finished. But because living entity is eternal spiritual being, he is, he has got spiritual desire. Now it is covered. The desire is there, desire is constant companion, but because it is materially covered, we are thinking this temporary world as reality, and it is not reality; therefore it is changing. We are having different types of desires according to the body we get, and the soul is transmigrating in this material world from one body to another, and he is creating a certain type of desires, will. And to fulfill that will he is getting a different type of body by the Supreme Will.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Because Mr. Deshimaru has no information what is spiritual desire, he thinks material desire is as good as spiritual desire.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, it is clear as you said, as you said that unless he becomes desireless. That desire means material desire.

Karandhara: Yes. That's actually what they're speaking about when they say desire.

Prabhupāda: So they are not so advanced that there is spiritual desire. That they do not understand. But so far the material desirelessness, that is accepted by us also. (French) It is something like this. Just like a child without education at home is simply doing mischief. So the parents want to make him mischievousless. But if the parent does not know that he should be given better engagement, otherwise it cannot be mischievousless, that he does not know. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He says there is something beyond material desire and spiritual desire.

Karandhara: No, he doesn't understand the definition when we say spiritual then. He's confusing spiritual with something like esoteric. Spiritual is the opposite of material. And beyond material desire, that means beyond gross and subtle desire, when we say spiritual we mean transcendental, the opposite of material.

Prabhupāda: Purified, purified.

Yogeśvara: Purified desire. (French)

Bhagavān: Prabhupāda says spiritual means pure desire, not that it's opposite but it's pure desire. (French)

Yogeśvara: He says it's still a desire. It may be a pure desire, but...

Prabhupāda: Because he has no information what is spiritual desire, he thinks material desire is as good as spiritual desire. (French)

Karandhara: They don't have a conception of spiritual. To them everything is material.

1969 Correspondence

I hope if you kindly read my books carefully that all your spiritual desires will be fulfilled.

Letter to Hrsikesa -- Hawaii 18 March, 1969:

I am so glad to learn that you are reading my Bhagavad-gita As It Is with great interest, and I hope if you kindly read my books carefully that all your spiritual desires will be fulfilled. And you are in the right place for doing this, in New Vrindaban, and I shall be happy to meet with you again when I arrive there in May.

1970 Correspondence

Krsna fulfills the ultimate spiritual desire of everyone.

Letter to Vrndavana Candra -- Los Angeles 19 July, 1970:

Yes Krsna fulfills everyone's desires fully. He can full our desires either materially or spiritually. Material desires to be the supreme enjoyer or god are not natural desires, however. Such desire is maya. Maya means what is not. Our constitutional position is not that of the supreme enjoyer so such desire is unnatural and false. Krsna fulfills the ultimate spiritual desire of everyone also. According to one's constitutional position he enjoys a fully perfect relationship of love with Krsna.

1972 Correspondence

You have got some desire to become a famous preacher and famous Vaisnava singer and also jagad-guru. This is a spiritual desire, so it is not like any material desire and it is all right to desire for Krsna in this way, but great Vaisnava or famous Vaisnava means that you have no sex desire.

Letter to Sankarasana -- Bombay 31 December, 1972:

You have got some desire to become a famous preacher and famous Vaisnava singer and also jagad-guru. This is a spiritual desire, so it is not like any material desire and it is all right to desire for Krsna in this way. but great Vaisnava or famous Vaisnava means that you have no sex desire. Whether you can be like that? First of all you be like that, without any sex desire, then you think famous Vaisnava. Vaisnava means he has no material desire, what to speak of sex desire. All material desires become zero, even he has no desire for jnana, karma, like that.