Insight 4 - The Fire of Desire

Insight 4

The Fire of Desire

Teaching:

Desire (Kam) is not the enemy. It is energy, a spark placed within us by the Creator. When forgotten, it burns and consumes. When remembered, it warms and awakens. The Gurus never asked us to destroy desire, but to turn its fire towards Truth. 

The longing we feel for the world is a faint echo of the soul's longing for its Beloved. When the heart turns toward Naam, the same passion that once bound us becomes freedom. The restlessness of longing becomes prayer. As the moth is drawn to the flame, the soul too is drawn to its Beloved.   

 

Practice:

When desire arises, do not run or suppress it. Sit with it. Breathe gently and remember Waheguru or Allah Hu, Al Hafiz and Al Nur. Let the fire turn upward, from body to heart, from heart to soul. Whisper the name until the flame steadies into light.

    

Contemplation Question:

What is this longing asking of me? Is it seeking the world or the One hidden within it?

 

Reminder of the Day:

The same fire that burns can also illumine. It depends where we place it.

Gurbani Reflection:

"The fire of desire is not quenched by desire, only through the Naam is this thirst satisfied." 

Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Ang 932.

("Turn the Heart towards Naam, the longing becomes freedom and prayer.") 

Comparative Reflection - Sufism:

"Desire is a messenger, it comes to remind the heart of the love it has forgotten." - Rumi.

"The heart is like a candle. Desire is its flame. Let it burn not for the world but for the Face behind the veil." - Hazrat Inayat Khan.

In both Sikh and Sufi paths, longing is sacred. It is the rope that pulls the soul back to the Source.

 

Reflection by Writer:

"There was a time I feared my own desires. But now I see, each longing was a whisper from within, a small flame calling me home."