Wednesday, Dec 25 2024  

Ceiling on Desires - 15 Jul 2013

Ceiling On Desires also known as COD is the 9th Code of Conduct.

Swami has said that we have unlimited desires and by fulfilling one desire, another ten more are created. Here is an example from my own experience: I got my first hand phone when I was nine years old and it was only a simple Sony phone. After two years, the iPhone 4 was announced and my desire to get that phone grew and I eventually received. As you may expect, when the iPhone 5 was released, I am sure you can guess what happened next! Does this happen only to me or to everyone in my age group? Swami was right as always which is why He introduced COD as the 9th Code of Conduct.

As we know, it is not possible to completely remove all desires. Therefore, we must make an effort to limit our desires instead. In simple terms, it means that we should focus on what we NEED and not on what we WANT. We should then channel the savings into helping those in need or for better purposes.

Swami has guided us that we must use COD on food, time, energy, money and water. I will be focusing on three aspects that I think are the most important to all of us namely money, time and water.

Let me begin with COD on water. I believe that water is the easiest thing to control. Water is something we cannot survive without, not only for drinking and cooking, but for our daily needs too. Here are some ways in which I conserve water: While brushing my teeth and washing my hands, I always ensure that the tap is not kept open unnecessarily. We all would enjoy long showers but it is also clear that we would save gallons of water as well as time, if we stick to shorter showers.

Now let me share about COD on time. How many of us spend more than an hour on Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, gaming and other online activities, combined, each day? We can see that it is very common for all of us to spend lots of time on these activities, including myself. We should all make an effort to put a ceiling on the amount of time we spend on such activities and instead allocate that time saved to focus more on our studies, reading Swami’s literature or even just exercising to be healthier. I will certainly make a greater effort myself.

Finally, I would like to close with COD on money. I know it is very tempting to buy something that we like to satisfy our desire, but before that, we should think, “Will it be of any purpose currently, do we need the item and what will we do with this item in the future?” Soon after I started Secondary school, I was very tempted to buy milkshakes, smoothies and bubble tea from a stall in my canteen daily and it was almost the same case for everyone from my group. During SSE classes, we all decided that we would cut down to buying drinks to only 2-3 times a week and put the money we saved, into a COD tin. Our Group has decided that we will use the money saved for the food-packing Seva conducted at the Sri Sathya Sai Social Service office in Eunos. Every month, our class helps to pack approximately 75-100 grocery bags, which consist of basic food necessities for needy families across Singapore. Each grocery bag costs about $18. We pray to Swami to continue giving us the opportunity to do this small seva and bless all the needy families.

In conclusion, I would like to close with a quote from Swami. “Desire is the worst enemy. It ruins human life. Desire when fulfilled, breeds further desires and leads to ultimate ruin. It can never be destroyed. Discard desires and you will be liberated.”

JAI SAI RAM

Sis.Hathiramani
Group 4