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            The Power of ?kaama? as a Force of Life
            ---------------------------------------

What is ?kaama?? Generally speaking, it is Pleasure
aroused through and by the senses and experienced
within the human mind in terms of subjective feelings
of heightened excitement. 

Defined in such a dry and clinical way might tend to
make one believe ?kaama? is perhaps just a harmless
little human indulgence, a tame and temporary moment
of insanity when human weakness occasionally overtakes
good sense. But we must beware of under-estimating the
power of ?kaama?. We only need to consider a few
typical examples of how ?kaama? works in the world at
large in order to realize the grip of tremendous
influence it wields over the mind of Man. 

The ?simple Pleasure? that mere taste of fermented
grapes affords the palate of men is the reason why
wine-making is a multi-billion dollar industry
worldwide! The ?simple Pleasure? that the mere sight
of the Taj Mahal arouses in the minds of men (and
women) is the reason why tourism is a multi-million
dollar industry in India. The ?simple Pleasure? that
fills the ears and hearts of millions of the world?s
rap- or rock- music loving teenagers is the chief
reason why ?music-piracy? is a multi-billion dollar
black-market industry in the world! The 'simple
Pleasure' there is to be had in a mere sniff of opium
is the main reason why the country called Afghanistan
today still has something of a semblance of an
economy! The ?simple Pleasure? that men in their
waning years desperately seek to keep extending by way
of sexual stimulation is the sole reason why the drug
?Viagra? earns today for Pfizer, the pharmaceutical
giant, its gigantic revenues! 

When we reflect deeply on all such contemporary
examples, we see that the "simple Pleasure" of "kaama"
is really not so "simple" after all. The goal of
Pleasure ?- the ?purushArtha? called ?kaama? ?- is
undoubtedly the most powerful and all-pervading force
of human motivation in life. The other 3 Vedantic
?purushArthAs? of life --- ?mOksha?, ?artha? and
?dharma? --- are simply nowhere as all-encompassing as
?kaama?. In fact, even the force that impels men to
seek and pursue the other 3 ?purUshArthAs? is said to
be but fuelled by the dynamic engine of life called
?kaama?. It was to such all-enveloping nature of the
great power of ?kaama?, the human urge for Pleasure,
that Lord Krishna too in the Bhagavath-gita was
referring in a very famous ?shlOka?:
 
  "dhoomEnA-vriyatE vahinar-yathA-darshO malEna cha I
yathOl-bEnA-vruthO garbhastathA tEnEdamA vrutam II  

(B.GitaIII.38)                                        
          
                           
?As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror is covered
by dust, and as an embryo is encased in the membrane,
so is all this world enveloped by its many desires.?
               
                  ***************

While those who seek ?mOksha?, ?dharma? or ?artha?,
each as an end in itself, form only a very miniscule
proportion of humanity, those with ?kaama? as the
principal purpose in life simply outnumber the latter.
Seeking Pleasure for its own sake, they are willing
even to raise the principle of ?kaama? to the status
of a moral ideal or value. 

The elevation of Pleasure to the pedestal of a
Life-principle ?--in other words, the pursuit of
?kaama? for its very own sake, the regarding of
Pleasure as supreme reward in itself and the
conviction that gratification of human desire is a
moral absolute or imperative in its own right ?-- such
elevation of Pleasure to the state of a
moral-principle has always been an extremely popular
mode of thinking in all major world systems of
philosophy in all societies, both East and West, and
in all ages. 

In the West, notably amongst the ancient Greek
philosophers, there was a school of thinkers known as
Hedonists who sincerely believed that pursuit of pure
Pleasure was the only truly worthwhile goal of Man.
The famous story of King Midas, the king whose
insatiable desire (?kaama?) for acquiring gold led him
straight down the path of ruin and tragedy, is a
classic Greek fable portraying, in vivid though
extreme manner, the Way of Life as espoused by the
philosophy of Hedonism. 

In the even more ancient world of Vedantic mythology,
in the ?purANas? or ?itihAsas?, we often get to see
the Pleasure-Principle personified in larger-than-life
terms in the character of demigods such as ?Indra?,
?Manmatha?, ?Mohini?, ?Ramba? and ?Urvasi? (the last
three of whom were denizens of the world of celestial
nymphs known as ?gandharva-sthri? or ?apsara-sthri?;
their beauty was both legendary and immortal). The
Pleasure-principle of ?kaama? was also the ideological
bedrock of a separate branch of anti-Vedantic
philosophy known as the ?chArvaka? tradition. The
?chArvakAs? too encouraged society to embrace a rather
promiscuous life-style: 

?Seek to live merrily today; seek to the hilt the
Pleasure of the moment without being troubled by
futile thoughts for tomorrow; for what is tomorrow?
Tomorrow you die!?, they said 

(?yAvadh jeevathe sukham jeevathe; rNam krutva gritam
pibate; bhasmee bhutasya dEhasya, punarAgamanam
kutah!?). 

Again too, in ancient Indian society, we observe that
there existed a special class of ?society-ladies? -?
renowned for their sensuous charms and artistic
talents -- known as ?dEvadAsi-s? who, in the eyes of
the rich but decadent aristocrats of those times, came
to virtually institutionalize ?kaama? as a distinctive
(not distinguished!) life-style and as a human end in
itself. 

                *****************

The pursuit of Pleasure and Gratification, in the
present age of the 21st century, has clearly become
universal aspiration if not obsession. 

The Philosophy of ?kaama?, the Pleasure-Principle, has
come to constitute the very core of ?Consumerism?
which, as we all know, is the driving force behind
economies of all nations in the world today. It is the
living faith of millions of people for whom the
betterment of life, the improvement of ?standards of
living? and the enrichment of ?quality of life? all
mean just one thing in the world: the ability to
?consume? more and more an ever increasing variety of
desirable goods and services available in the
marketplace. If the entire philosophy of Consumerism
were to be summed in up a single line it would really
be nothing but a contemporary echo of the age-old
?chArvaka? dictum: ?yAvadh jeevate, sukham jeevate?
--??Life is short; Live it up, enjoy yourself any
which way while you can, and be happy!?

To be able to recognize that the fundamental message
of ?kaama? indeed lies at the very heart of the
Consumerist faith, one does not need to study any
great Book or go seeking out some spiritual guru
perched in the Himalayas. All that you need to do to
attain holy epiphany in this field of philosophical
inquiry is to merely take a leisurely stroll around
the downtown streets and alleys of any great
metropolis in the world, say, New York, London, Tokyo
or Dubai. You will see the credo of ?kaama? flashing
at you from all sides in dazzling shapes and colors;
in iridescent, alluring forms emanating out of every
window along a shopping-mall, out of every billboard
along a pedestrian walkway, out of every giant-sized
hoarding illumined and towering over the busy traffic
lanes, all crying out to you their strident, screaming
message in the from of powerful subliminal mantras of
modern advertisement: 

?Buy this watch and conquer eternity!?, ?Wear this
underwear and feel like a king!? ?Take this home!?,
?This is the perfect thing to wear this season!? ?Gift
this necklace to your wife, and watch her eyes light
up this Diwali!? ?Give this toy to your child and
watch his joy!? ?Wear this! It will delight your
soul!?, ?Come here for the vacation of a lifetime!?
?Enjoy a truly out-of-the-world experience in the
quiet comfort of your bedroom!?, ?Take this home for
an unforgettable experience!?, ?Buy this now for sheer
pleasure!?, ?Own this and discover what true happiness
is!?? And so on and so forth? Ad nauseam, ad
infinitum!

One of the most astute of Vedantic thinkers of the
modern age, Sri. Eknath Eswaran had this to say about
the phenomenon of human ?kaama?, the orgy of mass
desire in which the modern world quite proudly but
mindlessly indulges in:

(Quote): ?When I go to a shopping mall, I am astounded
to see how many people do not come to get something
specific that they need; they come to see what is
available that they might want. They walk in to the
super-mall saying, ?Well, please tempt me. I?ve got
time on my hands and money inside my pocket; what have
you got for me to spend on?? And the shiny displays
and gleaming store-shelves reply ?How about a watch
that plays video games? A bathroom scale that tells
your weight in a simulated human voice? A household
robot to serve you breakfast in bed? How about a
selection of twenty variations on an unnecessary item
which you already have?? Instead of feeling insulted
by this kind of approach, we respond in such numbers
that new malls spring up every year around us.

Buying things cannot appease desires. It only feeds
the habit of desiring, until we are chronically unable
to be satisfied with what we have. Eventually, we find
ourselves in a state of free-floating frustration,
always wanting something more, never content with what
we have.? (Unquote) 

It was precisely to such a human state of
?free-floating frustration?, where ?kaama? breeds ever
more ?kaama? without ever satiating it, that Lord
Krishna too was referring in the Bhagavath-gita:

  Aavrutam gnyAnamEtEna gnyAninO nithya vairiNA I   
  kAmarUpENa kownthEya dushpurENa-nalEna cha II
                                  (B.Gita III.39)

?The knowledge of one?s own true Self is enveloped by
this constant enemy, O Arjuna, which is of the nature
of selfish desire (?kaama?), and which is difficult to
gratify and is insatiable.?
                 
                   ****************
                   (to be continued)

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan




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