kAma means desires or wishes of any kind.
They lead ordinary people to karma or action to get their wishes. karma includes prayers that they may perform.
But what they get may not be their wishes, but some karmaphala (fruit of actions) from their previous actions.
Prayer (prArthana), sAdhana and karma strengthen our sankalpa or will.
sankalpa makes things happen the way we want. (A kAma backed by sankalpa is like a desire backed by purchasing power – what economists call demand!)
Then we discover that we wanted is not what we really want.
So with kAma whether we get what we want or not – there is dis-illusionment or dis-satisfaction. And while we may have exhausted some karmaphala, we have acquired new karmaphala. Hopefully our means were right so the karmaphala is good.
sankalpa without gnyAna is useless. You can make anything happen, but you don’t know what’s good for you. And if you will enough things to happen, you could paint yourself into a meaningless corner – a jail of your own making.
So along with your sAdhana for sankalpa, you need adhyayana, study for gnyAna, knowledge.
Thyagarajaswamy said that gnyAna without bhakti, devotion, is unlikely to get a sanmArga or good direction.
So bhakti is indispensable.
Even s’ankArAcArya said, bhaja gOvindam – worship (regard) gOvinda!
And the other Acharyas and Gurus are very firm on bhakti anyway.
And bhakti involves a bit of surrender and letting Krishna handle our yOga kSEma – our well-being and yOga with him!
Whence the anxiety then? Because of kAma. Because we want badly what we seem to want now and we don’t trust Krishna to take care of us.
(By the way, when I say Krishna please substitute the name of your iSTa daiva – favorite God- I am confident that It is impartial to names).
Satya Sarada Kandula
