Deserve Then Desire

All the powers in the universe are already ours, Swami Vivekananda once said.
Humans have an innate quality of being desirous and pretty obvious it comes naturally too. The transformation of humans to civilized being, from stone age to the modern era, from using a hammer stone to wheelsand now to an era of artificial intelligence, has all been due to the desirous self.

The achievement of a goal or a desire that he sets for himself triggers a sense of satisfaction, which is also duly rewarded by the people and the organisations that receive the benefits and further motivates him to better himself. Desires are, as already mentioned an integral and natural quality that humans have been blessed with yet being desirous threatens the integrity and poise when one does not possess the contingent skills required for his desires to be fulfilled.

The chasm between capabilities and desires have tremendously increased in today's ultra fast paced lives.

Necessities have increased, thus leading to unrealistic desire of wealth and position alike.
Unrealistic desires and quick success has made us in, leading to a hollow sense of happiness and lack of proper knowledge and skills.

Look around, and you will see people discussing about the fat packages they get in premiere colleges but no one discusses about a student pursuing his PhD degree at some premiere institute, because one but all run after easy success and fame. People are bound to choose their profession, keeping in mind the easy success that they get irrespective of the knowledge and the skills they must acquire or their interests.

Since the time of Buddha, the pertinence of striking a balance between capabilities and desires cannot be neglected.

Here goes a story which depicts the same:

Once a Rich merchant came to Buddha, enlightened and amused by the knowledge he had, asked him to teach him. Buddha listened patiently to the Merchant and his request, smiled back and asked him to come the next day.The poor merchant had no option but to return back and came the next day.This routine followed for a while until one day the merchant got irritated and shared the experience with one of his friends. His friend, advised him to cook for Buddha and call him to his place. The Merchant acceded to his request. Merchant carefully cooked khir(a sweet dish) and as soon as Buddha arrived , proposed to take the khir away with the utensil, but Buddha refused saying, he was a beggar and beggars ought to receive everything in whatever they possessed as they were not allowed to take anything that is materialistic in nature. The merchant was unable to give him the khir that he prepared meticulously as the utensil that Buddha had, was broken and tarnished with a number of holes. Buddha at last explained, like the utensil has holes and unfit to have khir, similarly he cannot impart knowledge to someone who is not ready to take it.

It's pertinent to know that desires are important to the human race for their petty existence and advancement, but what needs to be understood is that desires should be in alignment with the capabilities one has acquired over the years. Being solely desirous without being capable only increases unsatisfaction and mounts unaccomplished tasks. The situation today presents a bountiful of real life examples where desires fail to meet capabilities. The alarming situation needs rapt attention indeed!!