30. What we Desire and What we Deserve!!!!

In Katha Upanishad Lord Yama tells little Nachiketa that Preya (Pleasure) and Shreya (Pleasant) approaches a person at every step in life as split roads and he consciously or unconsciously chooses either Preya or Shreya. Shreyas is acquiring possessions by Dharmic means for personal enjoyment as well as for the prosperity of people around him. This is good and preferable. Preyas is acquiring possessions by any means for worldly enjoyment which is materialistic and the person alone is benefited. Preya is that which pleases us and kindles our Ego. Shreya, on the other hand, is neither pleasing nor displeasing - it is simply beneficial to all and is what we deserve as per our Prarabdha karma.


Preya gives immediate pleasure, enjoyment, and satisfaction and usually provides what it promises. But the problem is that it does not and will not last long. Hence Preya lives only for the day or for the moment. Shreya, on the other hand may sometimes be horrid at the beginning but will be of great help at the end, for example, a fitness program is unlikable at the beginning but after days one starts feeling the benefit of it.


Preya is charmingly dressed and the moment our eye catch sight of it, it is hard to take eyes off it. But Shreya wears a modest personality. Even if it is standing right in front of us we fail to notice it. Preya has an excellent salesman spirit and knows what to offer and to whom. It makes the appeal directly to our senses or our Ego. Preya provides passing pleasure but Shreya gives us perennial joy.


Is there a way to get out of the hold of Preya and move towards Shreya?????


Ramakrishna Paramahansa put it in sublimely simple words. If you want to go East, don’t go West. If you want to lose weight, don’t eat calorific food. If you want to be fit, don’t give up exercise. If you want to get enlightened, stop chasing materialistic wantons.

All that we have to do to accept Shreya is not to fall prey to Preya. Decline to chase money, fame or power at the cost of values or principles. Refuse to indulge the sense gratification. Then soon Preya will pass away into an ethereal shade, and Shreya comes strong and beaming. With Shreya on our side, the battle of life is ultimately won, for it teaches us to put the long term over the short term, the right over the tempting, and the principles over pleasure. Sweetest and most sought from; success to happiness to enlightenment is obtained by staying faithful to Shreya.