A Devotee once queried," Sir, you often say that Nama eliminates Desire. Will you kindly elucidate how?" Shri Maharaj replied, "Darkness has no independent existence. It comes only when light is gone, when the sun
Disappears. Now Nama is reminding oneself, in effect, that God exists, and you, the body, is only a shadow of Him. God is knowledge, and ignorance cannot exist where .there is God. Therefore, Desire ceases to exist where there is God in the form of his Name.
Desire can exist in different stages. In the lowest, the body tries to execute it immediately; in the next, it is subject to thought and discrimination, which control its translation into action; and in the next, last stage, persistence in nama, completely occupies the mind, and there is no room in the mind to be penetrated by desire. Persistence in Name takes one up these steps almost unknowingly, without being noticed.
