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 becomes alive, Divine. In lust even a living being becomes a mere object. You want to use even 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 bring 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 colours

If someone's 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 cunningness and manipulation. Shiva, 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 Shiva woke up he opened his third eye and the lord of lust, Manmatha (one who churns the mind) was reduced to ashes. Everybody celebrated by throwing colors on each other realising that life is full of colours.

We play many roles in our life. If all the roles get mixed up it becomes dark, like when you mix all the colours. The wise play each role distinctively side by side, like colors displayed side by side form a rainbow.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji