Manifesting Desires

Dear Vinko,

Humans have been searching for the magic key of manifestation since time immemorial. In fact, it DOES exist but not surprisingly, it comes at a price!

Since Einstein’s great discovery of the Theory of Relativity (showing that matter is energy), scientists have steadily searched for the true nature of matter and how matter comes into manifestation from apparent nothingness.

The ancient teaching of metaphysics and especially as articulated in the Vedic tradition is simply that God manifested all things out of Himself and that we are made in God’s image and ourselves manifested by and AS Him, are co-creators.

To answer your question directly: DEPENDS! (ha, ha!). Depends on what you mean by the word ACTION! God ACTED in manifesting the universe. Your very desire for something is itself, a kind of action. But most desires are simply wishful thinking, aren’t they? “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride (them).” This is an old saying from long ago.

Patanjali in the famous Yoga Sutras says that to one who has perfected NON-DESIRE, non-greed, non-avarice, “all jewels come to him!” (Jewels here means whatever wealth or material needs are required. It is not literally jewels and diamonds!)

But as always there is a catch: for one who is non-attached, the only “jewels” that will come to him are those that his circumstances require and not as the result of his desire!

On the other hand, a saint can heal, raise the dead, and manifest all sorts of material objects. So, yes, it CAN be done. In the Autobiography of a Yogi, there is the story of the fakir who had access to astral entities who could materialize objects at will: food, precious objects and so forth.

But consider the amount of atomic energy contained in any single object and the electromagnetic energy it takes to hold those atoms and molecules in equilibrium. One has to have access to a level of energy equivalent to what is required to manifest an object, person, healing, or other circumstance.

The ENTIRE creation is a manifestation from nothing but NOT WITHOUT TAKING ACTION equivalent to the energy necessary.

Consider those who are born with wealth, beauty, talent, or rise into power and influence with seeming naturalness? The law of karma is exacting though it is also extremely complex. One isn’t merely just lucky, however.

So those who appear to us to “have it all” have in fact in some way and in some past time or lifetime, put out the action (energy) to earn what they seem to have received so effortlessly. It is truly that simple. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. But what ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

If you desire to be famous but do nothing other than to think about, dream about or to fantasize about being famous, you can be fairly sure nothing will happen in this lifetime, or in any other lifetime UNTIL you put out the necessary energy to attract fame. And THAT is an enormous amount of energy, struggle, and effort.

The one odd thing is this: ask yourself, “Why do I have THAT particular desire?” No doubt that you have had that desire sometime in the past, presumably a past life. It may be possible that you already HAVE put out an enormous amount of energy and therefore it IS POSSIBLE that by focusing on that desire (mentally) it will materialize. But, truthfully, the odds are against that happening.

And then there is this trap: desires are ENDLESS! When you allow yourself to indulge, even just mentally, in a desire, day after day, year after year, and whether or when the desire(s) manifest, they will sprout ever more desires until such time, exhausted by mental or material indulgence, repulsion sets in, perhaps long after depleting your health, wealth, and happiness.

After repulsion exhausts itself, desire re-appears and the cycle continues until you simply transcend that one (out of an infinity of) desires. As the fairy tales warn us: Be careful what you desire (because there is always a “catch” and YOUR happiness is the price you have to pay for making a pact with the “devilish” maestro of duality).

May your only desire be to love God ever more purely and transcend all lesser desires in the fires of devotion!

Nayaswami Hriman
Seattle WA USA
www.Hrimananda.org