LOVE AND LUST In love even an object gains life. Stones speak to you, trees speak to you, the sun, the moon and the whole creation become alive and divine.
In lust even a living being becomes a mere object. You want to even use people like
objects.
Here are some salient attributes of love and lust.
They are so different yet so close! If you find more, you may add to the list.
Lust brings tension; love brings relaxation.
Lust focuses on the part; love focuses on the whole.
Lust brings violence; love brings sacrifice.
In lust you want to grab and possess; in love you want to give and surrender.
Lust says, ” All I want you to have is what I want.” Love says, ” I want you to have what you want.” In lust there is effort; love is effortless.
Lust causes feverishness and frustration; love causes longing and pain.
Lust imprisons and destroys; love liberates and sets you free.
Lust demands; love commands.
Lust gets you mixed up and confused. In love you are focused and spaced out! Lust is only dark and monotonous; love has many modes and colors.
If someones lust is interrupted they get angry and start hating. Hatred in the world today is not out of love, it is out of lust.
Love is playfulness, and in lust there is cunning and manipulation.
Siva, the embodiment of innocence and love, was meditating. His meditation was disturbed by an arrow of flowers from the lord of lust. As soon as Siva woke up he opened his third eye and the lord of lust, Manmatha ( one who churns the mind), was reduced to ashes.
Everybody celebrates by throwing colors on each others, realizing that life is full of colors.
We play many roles in our lives. If all the roles get mixed up, it becomes dark, like when you mix all the colors. The wise play each role distinctively side by side, like the colors displayed side by side from a rainbow.
— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
