We usually think of our desires as linear, as connectors between us and our desired objects. The Bhagavad-gita (02.62) supports this linear view when it states that contemplating on sense objects triggers our attachment (sanga) for them, which then grows into a forceful craving (kama).

Intriguingly, the Sanskrit word sanga also means association. With this meaning, the pertinent verse-quarter reads: Our association fuels our cravings. This reading conveys the triangular nature of desires. That is, our desires for particular objects are triggered when we associate with others who enjoy those objects. Thus, desire becomes a triangle whose three sides extend from us to the enjoyers of an object; from them to that object; and from that object to us.

The advertising industry exploits this triangularity of desires when it uses celebrities to endorse its products. On seeing ads featuring Bollywood stars enjoying a lifestyle product, we may start craving it, even when we don’t need it.

In fact, propaganda based on the desire-triangle can make us see as irresistible things that we earlier saw as incomprehensible or inconsequential or insignificant. For example, many young Indians wouldn’t have cast a second glance at football in the past. But nowadays, just by seeing football-mad Europeans repeatedly on TV, they become similarly manic, wildly cheering some faraway football league.

Significantly, we can channel the triangularity of desires in our spiritual practices. How? By associating with devotees who have taste for those divine manifestations for which we wish to develop taste. For example, when we read the Bhagavad-gita, we may find it too abstract or complex or irrelevant, thereby not feeling much desire to study it. But by associating with those who relish it and seeing how they find fresh insights in it, we too can gain appreciation and taste for its inexhaustible wisdom.

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