Desires vanish when you give them no thought
Most religions say that desire is the root cause of unhappiness. However, a life without desire may seem empty or unfulfilling. So, what is the right way to deal with desires? Should one try to eliminate them or nurture them? If we give full freedom to our desires and work towards fulfilling each and every desire, we are opening the doors to suffering. When we let our desires rule us, we are essentially sacrificing our present, in which we are working towards fulfilling the desire in return for future happiness when the desire is achieved.
If we desire to make a career for ourselves in a field of our choosing, achieving it may give us happiness for years. On the other hand, if the desire is for something superficial, say a big car, the happiness from achieving it is likely to be short-lived.
During this short duration, we may feel happy because our mind is desireless as our desire has just been fulfilled. But the mind does not remain desireless for long. Sitting in a big car, it may start dreaming of owning a big house. Just as throwing petrol on a fire does not extinguish it, fulfilling desires does not quench them.
They rise faster than they can be quenched. If one takes the opposite view and tries to suppress all desires, one is certain to meet failure. Countless people have tried, but none has achieved a truly desireless state. Even if one succeeds in suppressing all desires, the desire to be desireless will remain. So, one will not be desireless! Complete annihilation of desire may not be possible.
It may not even be desirable. Desires push us to work harder towards achievement and give a purpose to our lives. Without a desire, we risk becoming a rudderless boat. Perhaps we need to distinguish between the desires we want to accept and those we want to reject. Not every desire can be treated alike. A hungry person desires and craves food. A rich person owning 10 luxury cars desires one more.
Can the two desires be treated alike? There is no way the first one can be suppressed, but the second one can possibly be. We might try to suppress our desires for materialistic things beyond a limit. It might be best to suppress a desire to buy an attractive dress on display at a store if one already has a full wardrobe at home.
If one makes a habit of not paying attention to such desires, they will lose their power. Desires feed on our thoughts that arise around that desire. If you give them no thought, they will be starved and will vanish.