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A lot of law of attraction experts say that one of the secrets to manifesting whatever you want in life is to access that power of desire. In other words, when you elicit enough desire for whatever it is that you want, then you'll manifest it. Now unfortunately this is a very simplistic and frankly a dangerous approach to manifesting so in this episode of the karmic warrior podcast all be examining desire and manifestation from the perspective of yoga wisdom, and sharing with you a more grounded and reliable way to manifest a life of ease flow and fulfillment. So stay tuned.
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Hi there Yogi's and karmic warriors, welcome to the karmic warrior podcast where we talk about living an extra ordinary life by practicing time proven and tested teachings of yoga wisdom traditions. I am your host, Lisa Engles Witter. And the goal of this podcast is very simple, just to make it easier than ever before for anyone to find happiness and fulfillment in their everyday life by using wisdom teachings that have already been passed down for millennia. And to occasionally dispel many popular myths, especially in New Age spirituality, which hold us back without our even knowing. So be sure to subscribe to the podcast here on YouTube and anywhere that you can find podcasts.
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Now, before we dive in, one of the biggest challenges that my clients come to me with is that they find themselves stuck, they find themselves repeating the same lessons over and over again, they're frustrated, they're at a loss just because most of them have already done years of the work. They've done their coaching and therapy and spiritual practices, and yet they still struggle with the same unhealthy relationships or they feel like they should maybe be further along in life than they are right now. Whether that's personally or professionally or spiritually. Now, if you can relate to that, then I invite you to head over to www dot karmic dash warrior.com to grab my free report on why you keep getting that handed that one lesson in life, even if you've spent years doing the work. In this free report, I reveal to you the secret about harnessing the law of karma to finally break free of that one lesson so that you can live a freer, fuller life right now, I put the link in the description below. Alright, so let's dive in, you know, a common and actually very dangerous trap that a lot of people fall into who use the Law of Attraction is believing that they can manifest anything that they want and that they desire. But from the view of yoga wisdom, tradition, manifestation isn't quite as simple as that. So what I want to do in today's podcast is to begin with an excerpt of a recent workshop that I hosted and facilitated. And in that workshop, it was it was a three hour workshop. But in this segment that I'm going to share with you I talk about desire, from the perspective of yoga, and I explain that there are these four types of desire. And once you hear that excerpt, what we're going to do is we're going to come back and then we're going to look at how desire plays into the law of karma how the law of karma and desire fit in with each other, and how that fits into the bigger picture of manifestation. So let's go ahead and dive in. So in the view of yoga, we all have four desires. So let's take a look at what these desires are. And this is a traditional map, I might say or structure and yoga maps out what every single human being really wants. So we're going to go through each of these one by one.
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The first is that we want pleasure and we want pleasurable experiences. You know, it doesn't matter if it's the pleasure that you get from eating a wonderful dinner, you know, a wonderful meal, to the pleasure that you get from going to a concert and listening to your favorite band play or the pleasure that you get from whatever it is watching a sunset or going for a hike in nature, all of these things bring sensory pleasures to us. And all of these types of pleasures fall under this type of desire called comments, K Ma, that's a Sanskrit word. And if you think about it, most kids, most children right are driven by coma, they're driven by this type of pleasure. And so all people want want to have sensory pleasures, they want to have a good time. However, we all know that there are limitations to sensory pleasures to pleasurable experiences, because they're transient, they're impermanent. And if you stay, if you stay focused on just wanting these sensory pleasures, you'll always want more and more and more, you'll be seeking more and never feel fulfilled. So if we only Chase, that type of desire, that type of pleasure, you find that it's difficult to attain it, because you either you can't get enough of it, where it just becomes boring. Like, it doesn't feel like enough for you, right, so then we go to the second type of desire that we all want, which is the desire for success, wealth, and power, worldly success. Now, I want to mention that this type of success, and wealth and power doesn't mean that you're a Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or, you know, ridiculously absurdly the 1% of the world, it just means that we all want to feel some sense of security in our, you know, that we're financially secure, that we have a reliable, dependable roof over our head food to eat, we can pay our bills plus, you know, we might have some leftover to share with others, we want to have that type of success. And the interesting thing is that this that success is not pleasurable,
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is it? If you think about success, it takes a lot of hard work, it's not pleasurable to achieve success, maybe you have to go to college or some type of schooling and get some type of education, for whatever it is you want to do. Building a business is not pleasurable, it's hard to do. Whatever, you know, you term success as an getting to that point where you have that type of, you know, money, power, success, it's not pleasurable, it's there is some work involved in it. Right, so then we move to so that's, that's we have comma, we have our debt, that's called our debt. And then we also have this desire to move beyond that type of, of, of happiness, right, or that type of desire. And that is that at some point, all of us want to live for something more than ourselves. I think Don, Don says that right in his in the chat to make our world safe for our loved ones, right? That's Don's purpose in the world is to make our world safe for loved ones, and we want to do something more than just for ourselves, we want to help others and we want to live according to our values and our morals, we want to work for the good of others, we want our work to support not only the flourishing of ourselves, but the flourishing of others. And, and when I say others, I mean not just human beings, but all living beings on this planet, you know, the animals, the plants, the planet itself, the climate, all of it, right. So that's what we would call Dharma, or that's what in yoga view is called dharma. Dharma is a desire that we have to live for meaning and purpose. But even the interesting thing is that yoga tradition says that even meaning and purpose don't bring true fulfillment because even those even meaning and purpose, are impermanent. Why are they impermanent because meaning and purpose are dependent on outer circumstances being a certain way, in order for us to feel or believe that we are creating meaning and purpose in the world. So it's not wrong. It's just saying that there's something even more than Dharma that we all desire. In yoga tradition, they say that the highest motive that we have is what's called Moksha. Moksha is simply this concept that at some point in our life, that we seek to awaken, we seek to be liberated or enlightened from our mental constructs, we seek to awaken to the truth of who we really are. And we're going to be talking about that in a big way. In this workshop, because I think that most of us here, if not all of us here are interested primarily in the Dharma in the moksha. If I'm not mistaken, because once you cover moksha, in Dharma, you're actually covering our data and Kama, as well. So why not? Why not desire moksha.
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So these are essentially the four desires of human life. We want pleasure, we want success, power and wealth, we want meaning and purpose. But we also want to know the truth of who we are, we want to be enlightened. So anything that you want, can fit into one of these four categories. Alright, so now you have a clear understanding of these four types of desire from the perspective of yoga wisdom, right, we have the desire of sensory pleasures, the desire for success, wealth, and power, the desire for meaning and purpose and the desire for Self Realization. Now, let's look at this all in the context of the Law of Attraction versus the law of karma, because it's very, very interesting. Now, as we all know, the law of attraction tells us to focus on whatever it is that we desire, especially that feeling component of it, right? Like the law of attraction, experts tell us to really sense into and feel within ourselves, the desire for that, which it is that we want in our life. So this is precisely where we need to look at the law of karma. And to see what the law of karma says about desire in and and compare that to the law of attraction, I think you'll find this really fascinating. I know when I came to understand this, it was mind blowing for me. So what the law of karma says is that for every action, there is a consequence, or every action, there is a result, right. And in karma itself, the word karma is just a Sanskrit word that means action. So most people when they're talking about, quote, unquote, karma, right, they're talking about the law of karma that for every action, there is some type of result or consequence, whether that's good or bad. But what the teachings tell us is that actions are not actually the cause of what we manifest in our life. The Law of Karma tells us that everything that we manifest in our life is actually a result of how well we know the truth of who we really are. In other words, the degree or level to which we are self realized, will directly impact what we create in our life. And this is key. And it's, it's critical to understand and you'll see as we begin to unpack this a little bit. So let's talk a little bit about this law of karma. And how how it all how the desire fits into the law of karma. So again, the law of karma tells us it's not action, it's actually knowledge of ourselves, the degree to which we are self realized, which impacts what we manifest in our life. So what happens for most of us most of the time, is that most of us don't walk around in a self realized state. And I would venture to say, even many people who are on the spiritual path aren't abiding in their true nature most of the time. So this lack of knowledge of our true self and when I say lack of knowledge, I'm not talking about conceptual knowledge. It's very easy to say, Oh, I am one with God, but do you really have that experience? And do you abide in that experience of being one with God, for instance. So what happens is that this lack of knowledge or lack of abiding in your true nature, will lead to a sense of feeling incomplete of feeling like there's something missing. And the way I always describe it is, it's this nagging sense that you just, it's like, I can't put my finger on it. But something is missing. I don't know what it is, but I can't quite get it yet. So this is this sense that most people have most of the time, even if it's at a very subtle level. So you might feel that really strongly, or it might be more of a subtle type of experience for you. So what happens is this nagging sense that there's something missing that I'm not quite whole, I'm not complete, what that leads to is desire. And this is where the conversation gets very, very interesting. So this desire, then, from the perspective of yoga, wisdom, is the desire to fill what feels like what we might call an inescapable void. So this is when we begin to seek out those things like sensory pleasures, maybe it's just going out for a really good dinner, or restaurants, or maybe going on an exotic vacation, or any type of material things, whether it's clothes, or, you know, beautiful things in your house, or a nicer car, all those sensory pleasures. So we might seek out we might desire sensory pleasures, we might desire, success, wealth, or power, which we talked about a little bit earlier. Or, you know, it a certain point, those things feel like I have, well, it wasn't the sensory pleasures that wasn't it wasn't the success and, and fame and wealth and power that I wanted, maybe its meaning and purpose. And that's where a lot of people in, you know, get to their 40s 50s and 60s, and this is the midlife crisis, right? I want something, I want to know that my life is meaningful, and that I have purpose. And we seek out and we desire, any number of these things in order to fill that void in order to feel whole, in order to feel complete, like I matter, right. And so we take action from that desire, and that action, those actions that we take, of course, we're taking those actions, because we're hoping they're going to fulfill our desire, whatever it is, whether it's for that pleasure, that success, or that meaning and that purpose. But these actions, if we trace them back, they're they're misguided actions, because they are, to a greater or lesser degree, their actions based on egoic desires, they are actions that are based on not being centered in our true self not being grounded in the truth of who we are, but rather being grounded in some fabricated personality, some mental construct and story of who we think we are. So what the yoga teachings tell us is that the stronger our desire is for these egoic desires, any of them, the more likely it is that we're going to manifest more, not less more suffering in our life. Now, why is that? Well, it's because all of the things that the ego desires, that the personality desires, this construct that we have of ourselves, all of the things that it desires are actually impermanent. Think about it for a moment. All of our sensory pleasures, they come and go, you know, your your house, you loved it when you first moved into it, and now I could use a new house. Right? I got this great new dress and a year later, I need a new dress or a new suit or a new pair of shoes, whatever it is, right? Oh, you know that that facial was great, but now I need Botox, to get rid of the wrinkles, whatever it is, you know, sensory pleasures come and go. They're impermanent. And once they, we have what we want, we want more of it, or, you know, we move on to the next thing. Same thing with success and wealth and power. They come and go as well the ebb and flow in our life. You know, if you're into the stock market or nowadays if you're into cryptocurrency, oh my gosh, I mean, that's going up and down every one day, you know, you're up all this crypto, you know, whatever the word is for it is ignorant. But, you know, you get this cryptocurrency and like, oh my god, I'm looking at how well it's doing the next day. It's like it's so volatile, it's crazy. Same goes with the stock market it all. The point is it comes and goes, it ebbs and it flows. But even meaning and purpose change over time. I know, for myself, when I was younger, I thought, you know, what was meaningful to me and what I thought my purpose was when I was in my 20s, it changed when I was in my 30s, it changed again, when I was in my 40s. And now I'm in my 50s. And it's changed again, right? It comes and goes, it's impermanent, none of it is lasting. So when we're attached to these impermanent things, it will always lead to suffering. And I want to make the note in the important distinction, that suffering is different than pain. And what we're talking about here is mind created suffering. In Eastern spiritual tradition. The word suffering refers to mind created suffering, suffering that's created by our own stories, narratives, thoughts, right? This is very different from pain. Pain is something that is part of the human condition and is in escapable. Suffering is escapable, we can escape suffering. So now, desire isn't a hopeless thing, right? It's just the way that it's taught in the Law of Attraction is misguided and leads us down the wrong road, because the law of attraction doesn't make that distinction between egoic desires and divine desires, or being in alignment with our true self. So. So even when we say divine desires, it's not from this view of yoga, it's not like talking about this man in the sky, who it you know, we're trying to tune in to someone or something greater than us that wants something. It's not like that, in this view, you are the divine, it's just that if you are not abiding in and grounded in that essence, nature of yourself as the divine, then your your desires become misguided, misguided, then your actions become misguided. And then the results, whatever you manifest in your life, will eventually lead to suffering. So hoping that that makes sense to you. So remember that in yoga wisdom, it says that everything that we desire is, it's fine to have those desires. And actually, from this perspective, which is a non dual Shiva Tantra perspective. It's good to have desires, it's okay. To desire century pleasures, it's okay to desire success, wealth and power. We need these things to live and do our work in life. It's okay to desire, meaning and purpose. And of course, self realization is one of those desires as well. But in this view, what it's not okay to desire, or to think is that our sense of wholeness and completeness comes from these desires being fulfilled. Right, in this view, it's realization of your true nature of your essence, self of you as the divine living in you, through you as you and abiding in that true nature that leads to this sense of feeling connected to the greater whole of feeling fulfilled, beyond measure to feeling a sense of inner peace and calm and joy that's always present present regardless of the challenges that life might throw at you.
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Alright, so in this view, manifesting a life of ease and flow and fulfillment is based in knowing who you really are experientially not. conceptually. So it's called direct experience, having direct experience and abiding in your true nature not just having some story about what that is, or reading the, you know, the newest latest pop spirituality book and going oh, yeah, I get it. I read that book. I understand. No, we're not talking about that. Talking about direct experience. So the question is, how do you know? If you have that type of direct experience? How do you know if you experience actually know who you really are? There has to be some type of litmus test to it right? Well, there is. And it's actually quite easy. All you need to do is reflect on your, you know, your most, how often you feel joy, and inner peace, and contentment, and fulfillment in any given moment, and regardless of what's happening in your life. So that's how, you know, if you feel things like, you know, you're stressed out, or you're overwhelmed, or that that one person who always triggers you at work, or that family member that's always triggering you. If you feel resentful, you know, an underlying sense of resentment, or anger, or depression, or unhappiness, these are just a few of the signs that you know, there's still more work to do for you here that you haven't quite realized. And you are not yet abiding in your true nature yet. But you can. You can, there are methods, there are practices for doing this, which is the beautiful thing about this spiritual system of yoga. So now, let's just go back for a moment to the beginning, where we talked about those four desires, right. And you can see now, maybe more clearly why that fourth desire that which is moksha, it's the one desire that will always result in manifesting a life of ease and flow, and fulfillment. Why? Because what the law of karma tells us is that when you realize your true nature, you feel whole, you feel complete, as you already are, and you don't have that need anymore to fill a void with external and impermanent stuff. Right and then this, what happens is that this results in being aligned with the deeper wisdom and discernment of your true self, which is also known as potty BA, and yoga wisdom potty bot is this non emotional, intuitive faculty of consciousness that guides your actions, right, and, and then what happens is your desire actually shifts, you're no longer wanting to fill that void, to feel full again, or to feel complete and whole. Rather, the desire is based in this experiencial knowledge of your essence, nature. And your desire becomes the desire to express the fullness of your being and to gift it to the world. And then what happens is that your actions right now we finally get to actions, your actions are informed by this property bought by this deep wisdom and discernment by this intuitive faculty of consciousness. And that's going to result in experiences in your life of joy and fulfillment, regardless of whatever is happening in your life, regardless of of a global pandemic, regardless of climate change, regardless of any number of things that could be happening in your life right now, or in our society or in our world right now. So, I share
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all of this with you in this podcast, because there is just so much out there on online that you can find on manifestation and the law of attraction and I see so many people suffering, trying to use and struggling suffering and struggling to use these law of attraction principles. And the law of karma actually shows us something different. It's much more substantial when we're following the law of karma. And using the Law of Karma is a guide to manifestation rather than the law of attraction which sort of takes you off course. Right because the law of karma is based in time proven and tested principles. and it really helps us to grant or see us that we need to be grounded in knowing who we really are, first and foremost, that our our deepest heart's desire, right really is moksha. Our deepest heart's desire is to know the truth of who we are and to live from that place and to manifest from that place. So, I would love to hear any thoughts that you have about this conversation in the comments if you're watching on YouTube. And please do remember to head over to www dot karmic dash warrior.com and grab my free report on why you keep getting handed that one lesson in life. Even if you've spent years doing the work, I think you'll really enjoy that it's free, of course. So thank you so much for joining me in this episode. And until next time, many blessings and Namaste, stay
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