Abstract
Conventional Indian philosophy regards desire as a mental phenomenon that has the capacity to bind human beings and cause endless physical and psychological suffering.1 Desire arises from the mind, which is by nature perpetually fickle and restless (Bhagavad Gita 1987:34–35) and endless in its demands.2 Desire and its related activity bring about karmic consequences that are then articulated through many lifetimes in a series of births and deaths. It is therefore crucial to understand the mind and its workings, if one is to free oneself from the mechanisms and effects of desire. Eliminating desires and thereby salvaging the self from afflictions of bondage caused by desires is unequivocally declared as liberation or the goal of human existence. True liberation is a state of absolute peace—likened to a lamp that does not flicker in a windless place (Bhagavad-Gita 1987:19). Such a state, even though “desired” by all, is sought only by few, and the foremost prerequisite for the attainment of such freedom is the annihilation of all desires (except the desire for liberation).
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© 2007 Saskia E. Wieringa, Evelyn Blackwood, and Abha Bhaiya
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Natarajan, K. (2007). Desire and Deviance in Classical Indian Philosophy: A Study of Female Masculinity and Male Femininity in the Tamil Folk Legend Alliyarasanimalai. In: Wieringa, S.E., Blackwood, E., Bhaiya, A. (eds) Women’s Sexualities and Masculinities in a Globalizing Asia. Comparative Feminist Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230604124_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230604124_3
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