IS IT LUST OR LOVE? (Part 4)

AUDIENCE: What is bhakti yoga all about?

JAGAD GURU: Basically, lust is really an attempt to have union with the world of matter. You're trying to unite with material energy and that is the downward pull. And spiritual love is the exact opposite of that.

Lust can be changed back into its natural condition of spiritual love. And that is done through the process of bhakti yoga. You can actually cultivate love for the Supreme Person and this includes the automatic redirecting or changing of that desire for union.

In other words, instead of attempting union with matter, you can work to cultivate union with the Supreme Being.

AUDIENCE: Can you balance your life in such a way so that you can get the best of both worlds?

JAGAD GURU: No, because it's one and the same thing. It's not that you can experience, "Well, I'll have this and that also. I'll be down in the lower chakras enjoying sex life to the fullest and I'll be out the top of the head experiencing union with the Supreme ." It doesn't work that way.

You experience the desire for union. It's your desire for satisfaction and fulfillment. You may aim it upward or downward. And it will be either/or, but not both. If lust and love were two different things, then it would be possible. But since lust is a perverted manifestation of love, you can't have both. It would be one or the other. You're going to be either immersed in love for the Supreme Person or immersed in love for mammon. This is the reason why Jesus said that you can't serve both God and mammon.

Loving service to the Supreme Being is diametrically opposed to the service of mammon. You can't have two masters. Ironically, most people who are immersed in lust like to think of themselves as being masters. They like to think of themselves as being the enjoyers and controllers, “Oh, we’re so free!” But the fact is they are servants. What are they the servants of?

AUDIENCE: Their senses.

JAGAD GURU: Yes. A person who's addicted to sexual pleasure is the servant of the sex organs. That's what he serves. He's not the master; he's the servant. In lust, you end up being the servant of the senses. Lust means you serve the senses. The senses are the master. The tongue says, "I want this," and you've got to go get it. The genitals say, "I want this," and you have to do it. If you don't, you get agitated and can't function. And the more you serve the senses, the more they want. They're never satisfied.