Divorce Lust - Marry Love - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree

By Achyut Gopal Das

"There is only one happiness in life - to love and be loved."

Probably one of the most frequently used word in human dictionary is - love. The number of books, novels and movies made with this theme are unlimited. But most often than not what we consider to be love is not love but lust disguised as love. You see, on the surface both love and lust appear to be similar but in reality both of them are galaxies apart. Here are few thoughts which show the stark difference between the two. These are not mere poetic words put to sound nice but are words with deep meaning which can be accessed if pondered upon a little deeply. You can call these "The Love-Lust Sutras". My suggestion is not to rush through this list but go through it slowly and meditatively.

THE LOVE-LUST SUTRAS
Love is healing, lust is hurting
Love is complete, lust is incomplete
Love is peace, lust is anxiety
Love is satisfying, lust is agitating
Love is truth, lust is illusion
Love is from heart, lust is from mind
Love is Rama, lust is Ravan
Love is divine, lust is demonic
Love is soothing, lust is burning
Love is liberation, lust is bondage
Love is knowledge, lust is ignorance
Love is light, lust is darkness
Love is life, lust is death
Love is gold, lust is iron
Love is selfless, lust is selfish
Love is inside out, lust is outside in
Love is unconditional, lust is conditional
Love is service, lust is exploitation
Love is broad, lust is narrow
Love is blissful, lust is painful
Love is pure, lust is impure
Love is solution, lust is problem
Love is nectar, lust is poison
Love is spiritual, lust is material
Love is strength, lust is weakness
Love is health, lust is disease
Love is uplifting, lust is degrading
Love is diamond, lust is charcoal
Love is soft, lust is harsh
Love is subtle, lust is gross
Love is a friend, lust is an enemy

Each of these points could be elaborated in detail but just pondering on them and connecting to our own personal experiences is sufficient to appreciate their wisdom. Here are few of my favorite quotes on love - quotes that perfectly encapsulate the essence of love.

1) "The biggest problem in this world is hunger - not hunger of the belly but hunger of the heart. Both the rich and the poor are equally hungry. And the only thing that can satisfy the hunger of the heart is God's love." - Mother Teresa

2) "All the twists I have taken in life have led me to a simple, ageless truth, one that sparkled an incredible transformation in how how I view life: all our countless desires, our insatiable longings, out fleeting gratifications and our inevitable frustrations arise from a single origin: we've forgotten the love that lies dormant within us. Discovering and reawakening that love is our greatest need. By its nature, this love offers both fulfillment and the empowerment to become an instrument of change for ourselves, the people around us and our environment." - An excerpt from "The Journey Within" by Radhanath Swami

3) prema dhana vina vyartha daridra-jivan

dasa kari vetan more deha prema dhana

"Life without Love is useless and poor they say,

Appoint me in Thy service, Oh Lord with Love as my pay."

- Chaitanya Charitamrita 3.20.37.

Love and lust are two parallel realities of a conditioned soul being encaged in this world. Which of these two we choose to tune into will decide how we see this world and what our experience will be. For so long we have seen this world through the eyes of lust and have only suffered, now let us see the world through the eyes of love and see the magic unfolding in front of us.

But for this to happen we need to let go of our attachments to lust and embrace love - we need to divorce lust and marry love. Will this process of change be easy? Depends on how serious and committed we are to achieve love. The problem is we have been married to lust since time immemorial so the thought of divorcing it itself is daunting what to speak of actually divorcing it. That's the time we need to go back mentally to "The Love-Lust Sutras" to give us sufficient reasons and impetus to let go of the one-sided relationship with lust and usher into our life the perfect partner - love. This in essence is the secret wisdom and earnest call of all the scriptures and saints from all religions.

Source: https://thewisdompark.blogspot.com/2018/11/divorce-lust-marry-love.html

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