Don’t Kill Desire — Deify It

 

For centuries, seekers have been told that desire is the enemy of liberation. Spiritual traditions often painted it as a fire to be extinguished — the source of suffering, attachment, and downfall.

But Abhinavagupta, the luminous mystic of Kashmir Shaivism, dared to say what few ever did: Desire is not the problem — unconsciousness is.

He saw desire not as sin, but as Shakti — divine creative energy in motion. Desire is the way the Infinite remembers Itself through form. It is not the chain that binds you to the world; it is the invitation that can free you — if you know how to meet it with awareness.

🔥 Desire as the Pulse of the Divine

In Abhinavagupta’s vision, all existence is spanda — the pulsation of Consciousness. The universe isn’t born out of boredom or need; it emerges out of a divine longing — the longing of Shiva to know Himself through Shakti, the longing of the Infinite to taste Its own beauty in diversity.

When you feel desire — for love, creation, art, expression, connection — you are not being “unspiritual.” You are echoing the same pulse that brought galaxies into being.

Desire is the divine heartbeat made personal. The key is not to kill it, but to purify its seeing — to let it remind you of where it truly comes from.