Man is life with desire; life without desire is God. Mind is desire; when mind disappears, desire disappears. (CWBSSB, p. 18)

Desires, when fulfilled, breed further desires; when unfulfilled, they lead to further instalments of life on earth in order to calm the urge. The only method by which the delusion of desire can be destroyed is to dedicate all activities to God and engage in them in a spirit of worship, leaving the consequences to Him and ceasing to attach yourselves to them. (SSS Vol. 10, p. 5)

Vedanta has compared desire to fire and to the ocean. Fire will never be satisfied, whatever may be the quantity of firewood you put into it. The Gita has given the epithet analam to the fire, which means that it can never be satisfied and keeps asking for more and more. Similar is the case with the ocean. It keeps accepting any number of rivers that merge in it, and yet it remains the same. Ocean and fire have no trace of satisfaction. Therefore, limitless desires are compared to these two. (SSS Vol. 15, p. 253)

By filling the mind with all kinds of desires, you become subject to worry. Wherever you turn you see only worshippers of Mammon (‘siri’ or wealth) and not devotees of God (Hari). In whatever one says or does, self-interest is predominant. How can enduring bliss be derived from this? (SSS Vol.22)

Desire makes man forget his real nature and reduces him to the status of a beast. It robs him of all his virtues and jeopardises his honour and reputation. (SSB 1979, 1979, p. 44)

When the mind that is comparable to a root gets destroyed, then the big tree of nature will fall. Thereafter man’s desires grow in the form of big horns. (SSB 1974, p. 118)

What is present in you is a desire in the form of a seed and out of this seed of desire sprouts a small plant which is your mind and out of this small plant, namely the mind, grows a big tree. Out of this big tree, we are attempting to get fruits and flowers. On the same analogy, out of the seeds of Karma (action and work), you will have to grow the plant of upasana, and through the plant of upasana, you have to grow the tree of wisdom and from this tree of wisdom, you can get the fruits and flowers namely ananda or Bliss. (SSB 1974, p. 121)

The mind is just a pattern of desires, a composite of the warp and woof of plans and resolutions. It has immense potentiality to create manifold images, and so is also called imagination. Imagination hides the truth.

(A hot-road mirage, "fake water" on the road, the most common example of a mirage)

It fogs the intellect; prevents the vision; deviates the straight path of the aspirant. Desire creates a mirage where there was none before; it clothes things with desirability. To escape from the clutches of desire, which give birth to the brood of anger, hatred, malice, greed, envy, faction, falsehood etc., one has to cleanse his consciousness by prayer and Sat Karma, good activity, selfless, desireless activity. Seva is the best Sadhana for eliminating the nefarious pull of the mind towards desires. Love expresses itself as Seva; Love grows through Seva; Love is born in the womb of Seva and God is Love. (SSS Vol.7, p. 259)

The morning shadow moves in front of you, however fast you run, you cannot catch it, on plain or mountain - or, the shadow may pursue you and you cannot escape from it. This is the nature of desire. It may pursue you and you cannot escape from it. You may pursue it or it may pursue you - but, you cannot overcome it or match it. Desire is an unsubstantial shadow. But, turn desire inward, towards spiritual treasure; then, it yields substantial results. (SSS Vol.7, p. 324)

In man there are four kinds of desires that emanate. One aspect is to regard the faults of others and one’s own faults as being on the same footing and speak on that basis. Another aspect is to speak about the good that is in him and speak about the faults that are in others. The third aspect is to speak about the good in him as well as the good in the others. The fourth aspect is to claim the good that is not in him and speak about the faults that are not in others. This is the worst aspect of the whole lot.

Today, we must make a determined effort to root out this fourth aspect. (SSB 1976, pp. 15-16)

‘Desire leads to hatred of those who thwart it, fondness for those who feed it and inevitable wheel of likes and dislikes’. (EL, p. 116)

Desire is all right as long as it is within reasonable limits. For example, if you feel thirsty, it is a reasonable desire to seek water to quench the thirst. Not satisfied with water, if one seeks cool drinks it is tantamount to excessive desire. To illustrate the disastrous consequences of excessive desire, I will narrate a story. Once a wayfarer, who was making a long journey by foot in the hot sun, was feeling tired and sought the shade of a tree to rest for a while. It so happened that the tree was a wish-fulfilling tree. Sitting under its shade, he wished for a cup of cold water for quenching his thirst. To his astonishment a cup of water for quenching his thirst was placed before him. After quenching his thirst, he felt that it would be good if he could get a bed to recline on and enjoy a siesta. Immediately a bed was provided from nowhere. Then he thought how nice it would be if his wife also was there. In a flash, he found his wife there. At this stage, he has a doubt in his mind as to how his wife, who was far away at home, could come there and thought that it might be a demon in her form, which might even devour him. As he thought in this manner, the woman turned into a demon and devoured him! This is the result of excessive desire, which is the enemy within you. (SSS Vol.26, p. 128)

Na Trishna ya paro Vyadhi - There is no worse disease than desire. If a desire is fulfilled, man gets temporary mental satisfaction. If it is not fulfilled, it leads to mental worry. There is medicine for all diseases. But none is there for this disease of desire. The diseases related to mind are more painful than the physical ailments. (Sens.SS, p. 49)

The constant integrated awareness (Prajnanam), which is in everyone, is covered by the ash of worldly desires. When the ash is blown off, the fire of Brahman reveals itself. To give an illustration: There is a tree on which thousands of birds are resting. Their droppings on the ground below the tree make it unusable. How to drive the birds away? When you shout ‘Rama, Krishna, Govinda’ and clap your hands the birds will fly away. Our life is a tree on which have gathered a big flock of birds in the form of desires. The desires pollute the heart. To get rid of desires you have to perform Bhajans. (SSS Vol.29, p. 49)

Kamam hithva sukhi Bhavati (Conquering desire, a man becomes happy). Life is a long journey. Desires are the luggage you carry. The less the luggage the greater the comfort during the journey. Man has to discriminate between necessities and luxuries and confine his desires to what is essential. (SSS Vol.29, p. 98)

Today desires are growing at an alarming pace. Even if he is about to die in a couple minutes, man expresses some desire or the other! What are these desires? What are you gaining from them? Nothing! On the other hand, when you do not have any desires you would be so very peaceful. You may believe or not, I have no desires in Me. That is why I have no worries. Follow Me! When you too have no desires you heart will be blissful. Desires only imprison you and they do not set you free as you imagine.

When your wishes are fulfilled, you praise Me sky high;

When your wishes are fulfilled, you praise Me sky high;

If your wishes are unfulfilled, you censure Me severely;

You commit sinful acts and pray for good results;

Crying to Me to pull you out of the mess

And save you, you put the blame on Me

For misfortunes of your own making! (Telugu Poem)

You commit several sins; but ask for fruits of meritorious deeds in return! This is not proper. You must not commit sins in the first place. Always engage in virtuous deeds. As far as possible we should be some help to others. God Himself is always helping others. Can you not do at least a fraction of this good work to others. (SSB 2002, pp. 156-157)

The fulfilment of desires causes further desire. Unfulfilment desires cause further births. The only way out, is to offer all acts to God. (WLMG, p. 89)

Desire ceases, when God seizes. In fact, since desire is the very stuff of which the mind is made, it become non-existent and you are free. The stage is called, Mano-nigraha, Manolaya or Manonasana, the death of the mind, the merging of the mind, the killing of the mind. (SSS Vol.5, p. 43)

Your life is full of ambitions and desires. You have to enquire whether you are making appropriate efforts to attain fulfilment in life. First search your heart to know what your thoughts and feelings are – whether they are pure, steady and selfless or are they tainted with desires. Desires are like luggage which is a heavy burden in the journey of life. Less luggage more comfort makes travel a pleasure. Therefore, gradually reduce your desires. If you have less luggage, you will be more peaceful. On the contrary, man today is increasing his baggage of desires instead of lightening it. (SSS Vol.39, pp.258-259)