IS IT LUST OR LOVE? (Part 1)

Love is the most common topic talked about in the world and yet it is also the most misunderstood. Although there are tons of books, movies, songs, poems, etc. attempting to dwell on the subject, there remains a serious lack of truthful, practical and clear explanation of the reality of love. Without valuable wisdom and insight on the matter, people rush into various relationships expecting to feel love and happiness but then end up experiencing frustration, pain and bitterness.

This article has been written to help individuals see, understand and experience love as it is meant to be – innately satisfying, fulfilling and pleasurable to the tender and vulnerable soul. We all need to love and be loved. But before we give our tender hearts to someone, let us understand what real love is all about.

The following interviews have been edited from lectures given by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa to sincere students inquiring about the nature of love and how to love. As a bona fide spiritual teacher, Jagad Guru teaches the science of love that is totally different from the fantasies and daydreams fed to the masses of people by movie makers, fiction writers and magazine columnists. Jagad Guru speaks the truth and the truth about love will not only free us from our ignorance and fears but also encourage us to open our tender selves and taste the highest sweetness of love for the Supremely Lovable.

AUDIENCE: We would like to know the difference between love and lust.

JAGAD GURU: Most people think they are in love when, in fact, they are in lust. Love is your natural spiritual condition and lust is the perverted manifestation of that love. In other words, lust is not something that is completely foreign to or different from love. Rather, lust is actually love but it's manifesting in a clouded or polluted way. For example, what is the ultimate manifestation of lust? What is the final goal of lust?

AUDIENCE: Personal satisfaction.

JAGAD GURU: Especially in connection with what?

AUDIENCE: Sex.

JAGAD GURU: Culminating in?

AUDIENCE: Orgasm.

JAGAD GURU: Right. That's the goal of lust—to experience the height of sensual enjoyment, which is the sexual orgasm. But that doesn't satisfy a person because the person is actually spiritual in essence. He is by nature spirit soul, non-material. Therefore, no amount of sensual or material pleasure will satisfy him and make him happy within himself.

There is also an apex or a union in love –union with the Supreme Being. The same desire for union is there in spiritual life as in material life. While the materialist seeks sexual union, the self-realized soul seeks union with the Supreme Person.

If we look at it from the up-down angle, lust is the inclination for union going downward to the various senses while love is this natural inclination for union going upward to the Supreme Lord. In other words, lust is not something that you can have at the same time as love. Lust is an opposite in the sense that it's the clouded or perverted manifestation of love.

In lust, what is a person’s primary interest?

AUDIENCE: Himself.

JAGAD GURU: His own pleasure. And in love, the primary interest is the pleasure of the beloved, right?

AUDIENCE: Yes.