Beware of Lust- part two
Posted on 03. Jun, 2013 by Vrajabihari Das in Celibacy Articles
Be whoever you want to be, but don’t be motivated by greed, egoism, lust, envy, anger and pride; rather, be motivated by your own inherent nature, as an instrument of God’s compassion.” – Radhanath Swami
In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna calls lust as an insatiable and all devouring enemy of the practising spiritualist. An enemy is generally subdued either through appeasement, bribery, making divisions amongst enemies or punishment. Lust is a special enemy in that only punishment will help. A little bribery will help for a householder by getting married. He offers his wife to Mr Lust and pleases this force for some time. However for long term relief from the attacks of Mr Lust, we need to subdue him with strong intelligence.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that Intelligence is covered by lust as fire is covered by smoke, mirror by dust or embryo by the womb; lust overwhelms our intelligence in one of the three ways.
When fire is covered by smoke, one can’t see the form of the fire but the function is available. This means the fire still burns although its form can’t be seen due to the smoke. Similarly at this first level, although lust is covering the intelligence, and the ‘form’ of the intelligence is lost, i.e. one appears to be distracted by lust, yet the ‘function’ of intelligence, namely the resolve to practise spiritual life seriously remains. The intelligence of a sincere celibate endeavouring to overcome the influence of deadly lust is compared to the covering of fire by smoke; his function and purpose is not impeded although lust exists and troubles the practitioner. Despite all the troubles and challenges, he practises spiritual life seriously, knowing that this is the ultimate goal of life. His pursuits remain strong even in the face of deadly and repeated attacks of lust because his intelligence is strong and he thus happily fights the enemy of lust.
When the mirror is covered by dust, the ‘function’ of the mirror is unavailable, i.e. one can’t see the reflection, but only the ‘form’ of the mirror. This is compared to a situation where the practising devotee knows through his intelligence that lust is bad and should be fought, yet due to weakness of his intelligence, he succumbs to the force of lust. Thus the ‘form’ of the intelligence is there, i.e. he knows what is right and wrong, yet the ‘function’ of intelligence, i.e. the ability to say ‘no’ to the temptations of lust isn’t there. He is weak in intelligence and lust covers him strongly. He says, “I know lust has to be conquered but I am weak, I give up the fight”
In the first type of covering (compared with smoke and fire), the devotee is harassed by lust but is eventually victorious because he fights the enemy and his intelligence is functioning. In the second type, the devotee knows lust is deadly and has to be given up but lacks the sufficient resolve. He postpones the fight to a later date. Saint Augustine, writes in humour how as a young monk he would be harassed by lust and he would fervently pray to God to be freed from this enemy, but he would solicit the Lord, “please release me from lust, but not now…later when I am old”
he third covering comparing the embryo with the womb is likened to the covering where both the function and the form of the intelligence are covered. This means a person at this stage of covering of lust is so grossly covered over that the intelligence rejects the proposal that it has to get rid of lust. Intelligence declares, “Lust is good, spiritual life and God is bad because it’s an obstacle for me to enjoy sex life” This is the stage when one is totally lost and is like an animal. A person whose intelligence is totally covered by lust thinks sex is natural and human life is meant for the glorious purpose of enjoying uninterrupted sex life. He thus wastes his precious life in pursuit of ephemeral pleasures.
Krishna warns a sincere spiritualist that one has to endeavour to overcome this force. Also one can’t underestimate the power of lust. Sometimes after some years as brahmacharis, we may fool ourselves to think that I am no longer troubled by lust. This is big illusion because lust is just around the corner and any unexpected moment it could strike fatally. A sincere brahmachari thus always guards himself from complacency. Once a devotee told Srila Prabhupada that he is not troubled by lust. Srila Prabhupada replied that he should see a doctor because it’s not possible to be unaffected by this force till you become liberated.
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Sanjiv
Jun 3rd, 2013
one can’t underestimate the power of lust.
Udisha
Jun 4th, 2013
It is interesting to know that Mr. Lust has three different ways of covering our intelligence. Thank you for sharing the wonderful analogies and Prabhupada example as they would help us reduce our complacency.
Kiran Yagain
Jun 4th, 2013
Unfortunately, majority of the world’s population today belongs to the third category mentioned here whose both function and the form of the intelligence are covered. They out rightly criticize monks as abnormal. This is the sad state of Kali yuga. But thanks to Hare Krsna movement. We are seeing monks popping up here and there by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya.
Kalpana Kulkarni
Jun 5th, 2013
Superb article on how we should guard against lust and how spiritualists should take special care to avoid it.
Sumit Sharma
Jun 5th, 2013
Lust is the topmost enemy of a devotee for his spiritual practices and can be curbed only by intelligence acquired under the divine shelter of devotees.
anjan
Jun 5th, 2013
Thank you very much for your wonderful analogies based on the inspiration of Radhanath swami. It was very wonderful to read and understand the importance of overcoming LUST
gaurav
Jun 7th, 2013
Thank you for bringing out such vital information for our benefit.
Our scriptures are so thourough with the correct understanding !!!
Sumit Sharma
Jun 8th, 2013
Shashtra mention that out of 6 greatest enemies, lust is the foremost. One who can get control over lust is a real yogi.
Kuldeep Soni
Jun 9th, 2013
Really wonderful! Thanks for sharing the different stages of Lust who Haunted every human in different degree.
Rajeev
Jun 11th, 2013
Wonderful analogies to understand ways Lust cheats us and how can we overcome it with strong intelligence.
Thank you for sharing.
Himanshu Goel
Jun 13th, 2013
Nice article
Abhishek C
Jun 13th, 2013
Very nice article on celibacy!!!
Himanshu Goel
Jun 14th, 2013
Hari Bol
Paramesvara Dasa
Jun 15th, 2013
Very much instructive lesson to defeat the lust. All glories to HH Radhanatha Svami Maharaja.
deepak bagla
Jun 17th, 2013
thanks for the excellent article
VIVEK KUMAR
Jun 17th, 2013
Here the stages of the fight between the intelligence and lust is depicted beutifully
,but how should we boost our intelligence so as to win over the lust? Suggest some practical examples one can follow in this MAYANAGARI …
Gkp
Dec 13th, 2014
Meditate on death every day, sincerely and continuously until your uncontrolled desire diminishes, because you understand that you will have to leave behind all your objects of desire and at the time of death they will bring no benefit, because you have to leave them behind. You will realise, that you wasted your precious opportunity when the whole purpose in life is to try to enjoy these objects. They are like poisonous flowers, looking beautiful but still poisonous.
amit
Jul 26th, 2013
Thank yo u for sharing :).
Sanjiv
Jul 27th, 2013
One has to endeavor to overcome this force of lust; both gross and subtle
Amit
Aug 4th, 2013
Thanknu for sharing
Kalpana Kulkarni
Aug 11th, 2013
Be whoever you want to be, but don’t be motivated by greed, egoism, lust, envy, anger and pride; rather, be motivated by your own inherent nature, as an instrument of God’s compassion very wonderful words to meditate and follow!
Sundar Ananda das
Aug 12th, 2013
This article is a good reminder of the forces we need to be aware of.. the laws of nature will go on with their workings.
umesh
Aug 26th, 2013
Thank you for the wonderful analysis of the lust. The analysis and the examples were quite striking.
Arabinda
Aug 26th, 2013
Great article, thank you for posting!
Arabinda
Sep 1st, 2013
Thank you for posting a nice article!
Kalpana Kulkarni
Sep 2nd, 2013
Very informative and instructive!
Kalpana Kulkarni
Sep 20th, 2013
Very informative!
umesh
Sep 23rd, 2013
The coverings analogy in the article was very striking. Thanks for sharing.