The Root Cause of All Emotions is DESIRE

My friend A.K. sent me the following email:

Some thoughts to share on a cheerful Friday morning. May your life be blessed by cheerfulness.

"The Root Cause of All Emotions is DESIRE"

by Swami Rama

Life in the external world is important, but life within is even more important because your actions are actually your thoughts. Your thoughts are based on your emotions, and your emotions are virtually your desires. When you desire something, that desires become the motivation that moves your whole being. You should understand this principle. The root cause of all emotions is desire. Millions of desires are there in the mind and those desires are creating thought patterns. You have a desire to fulfill, and if your desire is not fulfilled, you become angry. Anger comes about because your desire is not being fulfilled. If it is fulfilled, you become greedy and egotistical. Ego is the I-ness or my-ness that separates you from the whole. You become proud because you have something. Your desire has been fulfilled and somebody else’s desire has not been fulfilled, so you become proud. Attachment is the cause of misery. You are always afraid that you might not get what you want or that you might lose what you have, so you cling to it. If someone has something you want, you become uselessly jealous. These are the seven main sources of emotions. These seven streams are the products of the four fountains (i.e. four primitive urges: food, sleep, sex and self-preservation). By properly analyzing your emotions and the origin from which the emotions come, you can help yourself.

If you understand the sources of emotions, you can easily understand any emotional problem, no matter how hidden the emotions are, and you will not be disturbed. A disturbed person is one who is weak. If some one disturbs you, you are weaker than that person. It is not good for you to be disturbed when somebody else is disturbed because you will be affected by their disease. You can easily be controlled by somebody who is disturbed. When the conscious mind is ruled by undesirable emotions, fantasies, and problems are constantly coming and going, then you lose control of the conscious mind. Always tell yourself that no matters what happens, you will not allow your mind to be disturbed. Samkalpa-shakti is built through this. If a hypnotist uses suggestion, it is called hypnosis. If autosuggestion is used by a yogi, it is called samkalpa-shakti.

If mind is disturbed, if mind is depressed, or if mind is agitated by emotions, that mind cannot taste cheerfulness. The greatest physician in your life is cheerfulness. If you want to enjoy good health, you should have a friend with you called cheerfulness. Do not allow yourself to be depressed by thought patterns because you are not your though patterns. Do not allow your thoughts to influence your internal states. Try to maintain cheerfulness.

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