A woman had gone to a forest to a forest to collect wood. She found a lot of it and gladly tied it in a bundle. The bundle was heavy. However, she managed to hoist it on her head and started coming back. And she reached the end of the forest, the bundle fell on the ground after striking a tree, even as she was busy contemplating how long this bundle would last.

The woman tried lifting the bundle but failed. She was too tired. She prayed to the almighty, who appeared and asked what she wanted. Without applying her mind, she asked him to help her put the bundle of wood back on her head. The almighty asked her if that was all she wanted from him. She nodded her head and he obliged.

Isn’t it the story of the lives of most of us? Let us see what we desire. What do we crave for? Generally, all of us seek a lot of wealth. A large percentage of us are attracted to sensuous pleasures without caring whether such objects are good for us. We also desire to shoe off our opulence, such as beauty, fame, wealth, etc, and seek recognition. In short, our minds are full with desires which can be counter-productive.

When we get into trouble, which we shall surely do while seeking pleasures, then we pray. What do we expect from god? The almighty will not bail us out when we have willfully gotten into trouble. God wouldn’t grant what is not our due. We are not seeking what shall be useful to us; we are only asking, like the woman whose example has been cited earlier, for the bundle of our woes to be put back on our heads - or things which are only harmful to us.

So will be most appropriate thing to do? Seek higher pleasures like peace of mind; seek to serve others for which our bodies have been granted to us and do not want to enjoy the bodies of others sensuously; and, don’t have unlimited desires which have our receiving bags bulging at their seams. Why not leave the choice to god, since he would know what should be really beneficial to us. Since the almighty knows the entries picture?

In short, we need to lift ourselves from the platform of passion which gives results that are like nectar in the beginning but are poisonous in the end. The Bhagavad Gita clearly guides us in this respect, “Seek things which are attained by purity and hard work, which appear like poison in the beginning but are like nectar later.”