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Full Idea
A man acts according to desires; after death he reaps the harvest of his deeds, and returns again to the world of action. Thus he who has desires continues subject to rebirth, but he in who desire is stilled suffers no rebirth.
Gist of Idea
A man with desires is continually reborn, until his desires are stilled
Source
Anon (Upan) (The Upanishads [c.950 BCE], 'Brihadaranyaka')
Book Ref
'The Upanishads', ed/tr. Prabhavananda /Manchester [Mentor 1957], p.109
A Reaction
I greatly prefer the Stoic idea (Idea 3066) that we should live according to nature, to this perverse longing to completely destroy our own nature and become something we are not. Play the cards you are dealt, which include desires.
Related Idea
Idea 3066 Nothing is evil which is according to nature [Aurelius]
| 8156 | The gods are not worshipped for their own sake, but for the sake of the Self [Anon (Upan)] |
| 8157 | A man with desires is continually reborn, until his desires are stilled [Anon (Upan)] |
| 8159 | Damayata - be self-controlled! Datta - be charitable! Dayadhwam - be compassionate! [Anon (Upan)] |
| 8145 | Those ignorant of Atman return as animals or plants, according to their merits [Anon (Upan)] |
| 7993 | Brahman is supreme, Atman his spirit in man, and Karma is the force of creation [Anon (Bhag)] |
| 5350 | The Hindu doctrine of reincarnation only appeared in the eighth century CE [Flanagan] |
| 7599 | Around 800 BCE teachers superseded gods in India [Armstrong,K] |
| 7474 | Hinduism has no founder, or prophet, or creed, or ecclesiastical structure [Watson] |