According to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, desire can never be nullified. While conditioned, the jīva is a repository of unlimited material desires, summarized as the catur-varga, the four goals of human life enunciated in the Vedic literature (religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, and liberation). However, in the liberated state produced by acting under the direction of the Lord's internal, spiritual energy, the jīva's true, spiritual desires become manifest. Śrī Aurobindo has discussed this subject (though not in detail), and for this we appreciate him more than Ramana Maharshi. Ramana Maharshi has more or less tried to completely choke the life out of desire. This forcible elimination of desire is spiritual suicide. There is no credit in finishing off the patient without curing his disease; the doctor is qualified when he can cure the disease and save the patient. Those who pursue the four Vedic goals mentioned above, even up to impersonal liberation, find themselves imprisoned by their senses and enslaved by their desires. On the other hand, one who can teach people how to engage their daily activities in the service of the Supreme Lord is the real benefactor of humanity.
In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.4) Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
- mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
- jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
- mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
- na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ
By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in Them.
In His unmanifested impersonal form Lord Kṛṣṇa pervades this entire universe, which is a transformation of His external energy. Therefore all living entities in the material creation rest on His energies. Energy cannot exist by itself, without an energetic source. Thus the material energy and the Supreme Energetic, Lord Kṛṣṇa, are in principle one, though the Energetic is far removed from the workings of His energy. The jīva, being marginal, is moved by desire to serve either the manifestation of the Lord's external energy—this physical world—or the Lord Himself in spiritual world, which is an expansion of His superior, internal potency. In other words, in every situation the jīva maintains his constitutional position as a servant.