Urge

It is a queer emotion that goes deeper than our physiological structure! I had written some time ago, about a ‘natural urge’ being handled more sensibly with a balanced emotion.
Most of us just look at it a bit casually. We do not consider the urgency to look at urge. Then it simply emerges into an emergency!
There was a joke. A lady found it embarrassing when her kid announced loudly that he needed to go for a ‘pee’, in the presence of other ‘posh’ ladies, when they were at some get-together, or such occasions. She found a simple solution. She got the kid to agree to say, "I want to sing" whenever he felt the urge. Now this kid used this as an excuse to get away from the crowd when ever he felt bored, though the urge was not yet urgency. But the arrangement worked quite well. It so happened that the kid had to stay with his dad, when his mother was away to visit her folks. In the middle of the night, he woke up suddenly and nudged his father, saying "Dad, I want to sing". This dad was not informed of this arrangement, and took it literally, and tried to pacify the kid saying "Look dear, it is middle of the night, and it is inappropriate to disturb the neighbors, please wait till daybreak.". Thus some time was lost in the kid trying to plead the urgency, and the dad trying to pacify the kid. All of a sudden, the kid yelled "Now I want to sing very loudly". The father felt, there is no scope to pacify any further, and very reluctantly conceded, saying "Okay, if you must, then sing into my ears, but gently and slowly, not too loudly".
We adults yield to many kinds of urges. We do not even pay attention to the nature of such urges. In no time they become urgent. And when we are unable to fulfill, they emerge into emergencies! No joke. Please see. Why at all are those adult nappies in great demand? Is it not just that the urge does not take place. The translation of the message into an ‘urge’ does not happen, due to loss or lack of ‘connectivity’. When we are not well connected with a child, we yell at the child "what is the big urgency to open the wrapper now… Can you not wait till we reach home, to look at how the toy works?" Mahatma Gandhi had confessed, having felt an urge at an inappropriate occasion, when there was the body of a close relative waiting funeral rites, and he happened to think of some physical urge towards his spouse. Such honest admissions get applause no doubt, but usually fail to inspire most of the readers, who would dismiss it very casually, distancing oneself from it one way or other. Spirituality does not allow any such privilege. The discipline of this path insists that we look at each and every ‘urge’ very consciously, in full awareness, and deal with it equanimous-ly, not emotionally!
(I even wonder, if that Indian form, "urz suno zara, meri bhi " emanates from the ‘urge’ to be heard! And then there is that "Urjee"(an appeal) being submitted to the Englishman(pre-independence days of India), for his ‘kind’ consideration, when he likes to please a subordinate to ensure his loyalty to the master. Or, quite possibly, it is a sheer coincidence, when the majestic form of delivery of a couplet, "Arz kartaa hoon, Arz Hai,….. "(I hereby render), responded with an equally majestic ‘Irshaad"(please/pleasure is ours to listen, etc…..), got deformed when it was delivered by lesser beings to their master )
One may dismiss with some repugnance towards this ‘urge’ factor, at the very mention of spirituality aspect. But, even for a balanced mind, for avoiding the surge of an emotional imbalance, it is worth looking at the way our emotions evoke some of the non-urgent urges. Anyway, sometime or other, introspection would take over, and keep haunting us needlessly, now with a negative urge. And, it is not just about those socially acceptable actions which are the translated forms of the urges that we are talking about! It is about the very thought processes of those urges. We are quite clever. If only we had not learnt to keep most of our urges under check, we would have shared the condemned cells in those prisons, where hard-core criminals are lodged permanently! The only difference is that those poor fellows were in a great hurry to translate those urges into action. Is there a single crime that we too have not committed in our mind, our thoughts some time or other? Ah! Some people even keep restraint, not exceeding beyond a few ‘pegs’ fearing inadvertent spilling out the innermost urges, thoughts, secrets etc!
(That is exactly why, this spirituality is said to be a pathless path. Most of our paths are made up of urges, desires, result-driven-goals, expectations, anticipations, cravings, etc. Even the ‘urge’ for spiritual growth might be a deterrent at a stage for further growth! We have to handle this urge, shape it into a sublime form, and then pursue it. That is mysticism! The presence of a guide, a spiritual Master, makes the task quite easy, simple, and effortless!).
A tail-piece: Like that famous punch-line by the also famous Shri Navjot Singhjee "Better tighten your belt, or you may lose your pant", I am persuaded to say, "better tighten your urges, or you may lose your cool"!
With Urge-full-regards,
Psn(25th May, 2010)