Unfulfilled desires remain in the heart. And what is the harm in harbouring them? It is this: Every desire consists of specific forces, either good or evil, or a mixture of both. And when you die, though your body is gone, those forces do not die. As mental tabloids they follow your soul wherever it goes, and when you are reborn, these tabloids manifest as behavioural tendencies. Thus, a person who has died an alcoholic brings with him the tendency to alcoholism when he is reborn; and it remains with him until he overcomes desire for alcohol.
The behaviour of even the smallest child reveals certain characteristics of past lives. Some children have terrible temper tantrums, others are moody. God did not make them that way. Unfulfilled desires of past lives fashioned those psychological tendencies; and, because of them, the soul, even though made in the image of God, appears as something different. If the image of God within you is distorted in this life by anger or fear, and you do not conquer such uncharacteristic qualities now, you will be reborn with them; and you will have the burden of these misery-creating tendencies until you overcome them in some future incarnation.
It is better, therefore, to work out or overcome all your desires now. They would be finished immediately and for all time in the supreme joy of God’s presence; but until you know Him, your unconquered desires will remain to hound you.
There are two ways of finishing your desires- by realizing, through reason and discrimination, or wisdom, that only God can give permanent unalloyed happiness; and by fulfillment. In many cases desires lie hidden within the subconscious. You think they are finished, but they are not. Life is indeed a great mystery; but the mystery clears away when you dissect life with the scalpel of reason. If every day you sit quietly for a little while and analyse yourself, you will discover that you have many unsatisfied desires. They are like dangerous germs that you carry through life, and wherever you go, in this life or the next, they will go with you.
The best course is to do away with all dangerous desires in this life, by discrimination, and to concentrate on fulfilling your good desires. If you feel drawn to commit suicide, or to do something evil, get rid of such desires now. Convince yourself, by reason and by good actions, that you are a child of God, made in His image, and rise above your moods and bodily habits. Be more detached. In this way you will conquer. If you suffer from a chronic ailment, try mentally to separate yourself from the consciousness of the body. By discrimination you can conquer the senses. Discrimination is the fire that burns up desire.
It is a general practice to store in the attic all of one’s unwanted, unnecessary “junk” and once in a while to have a good housecleaning. Similarly, hidden away in the attic of your subconscious mind are many potentially harmful desires that one day may give you great trouble. It is important, therefore, to analyse yourself. Perhaps you are a hateful or moody or angry type of person. If so, these stored traits are the result of your own past behaviour. In order to clean out your mental attic of such unwanted furnishings, you must vigorously employ constructive, positive, loving action.
Extract from the book “Man’s Eternal Quest” by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.