ஔவையாரும் empty CUP'um...

Few days back I was just snooping through some of the tamil magazines in the library and stepped upon one supplementary magazine that had the following quote boxed in the corner of a page.

எந்தெந்த பொருளின் மேல் உனக்கு ஆசை இல்லையோ அந்த பொருளால் உனக்கு துன்பம் இல்லை - ஔவையார் 

[Rough translation - Anything that you don't desire will not bring you suffering] 

So, what'z special in the above quote? This is just piece in midst of thousands of other spiritual quotes/advice's that we come across. But, the beauty I see in this quote is its simplicity and easyness to follow. How simple? One thing that immediately struck into my mind after reading this quote is the famous message from Gautama the Buddha "Desire is the cause of all suffering". This means, if you need to get out of suffering you need to stop desiring. In my opinion, this Buddhist quote is very abstract, heavy and raw. It just concludes the root-cause for suffering, but fails to mention the ways [easy ways of course!] to overcome suffering. The ways could have been mentioned in Buddhism, but how many have patience to read and follow Buddhist life in full to kill desire, overcome suffering and get liberated?. Everyone likes an easy and shortcut way to follow advices. If there is a machine that can make one enlightened in just few minutes, we will definitely be in the queue. Same case with the above Buddhist quote.. Its easy to say and understand that "desire is the cause", but hard to follow. So we took the easy route "Skip the quote and keep desiring"...

Now, how should one go about killing his desire? That isn't a easy job since "desires" keep the life moving. If you just "empty your teacup" in a second, you will find no meaning to live. Who knows, you can even go mad. 

This is where the above quote from Ovvaiyar comes handy. It breaks down this Buddhist quote into an easy and a followable pattern. Instead of just emptying the cup in a shot, it tells us that "there is no suffering to you from anything that you don't desire". It lets use choose our desire and kill it to overcome suffering. A step-by-step approach. For example, a vegetarian doesnt have suffering as long as he doenst desire to eat meat. But once he desires, he need to accept the "suffering" that comes along with his desire. Same case for every thing. As long as you don't desire money, it wont harm you. Once you "desire" money, you run into suffering. Now there comes few related questions... 

  1. What is the limit for "desire"? 

  2. Should i not desire money? 

  3. How do i live without money?

The answer is simple. If you are "earning money to live" there is no desire. Its all about satisfying your needs for survival. But when you turn "live to earn money".. you get an additional bonus pack of "suffering" along with that. It brings you great disappointment if you cannot earn money when you live for it. You will find that money has taken over your life. Identifying the suffering is to keep a close-watch on your desires (or) watch your desires to avoid suffering.

Having said that, lets do a quick retrospect of ourselves. List down five items that you desire the most [Exclude your life-partner from this list :)..]. Think of the suffering they pose to you. No suffering, the desire is good to go. Higher the suffering, reduce the intensity of the desire (or) avoid it...If at all one desire from your list falls down, Ovvaiyar quote had serve its purpose. If list turns completely empty, the world got one more Buddha.

Now the Climax - Lets not wait for any Buddhist monk in red-clad and shaved-head sitting with mount Everest in background saying us to "empty your teacup". Lets spill our cup drop-by-drop..One day, we will find our teacup empty... 

PS - Though the phrase "empty your teacup" is widely used to represent "learn to unlearn", I  kind of use it to represent "kill your desire".