Is Lust Something You Are Born With Or Something You Develop?

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Whether lust is something one is born with, or it is something that one develops at a later point, lust is after all lust; it is harmful anyways! Therefore, it is important for one who is born with lust to look for an effective way to come out of it; and one who is wanting to develop lust must be in the know of what he’s trying to build for himself.

The Science of Intent

If one is not born with lust, it means one has not had a prior intention in favour of lust so far.

Param Pujya Dadashri says, “This world is the fruit of man’s deep inner intention. This intent is laid down as a seed in the past life and the fruits come forth in this life. If you had the deep inner intent for celibacy in your past life, then celibacy will unfold in this life (and vice-versa). The world is your own projection.”

How is lust developed?

One may be leading a happy, lust-free life, if one has had no prior intention of lust in life so far. However, owing to the pressure of circumstances or otherwise, if at some point, one makes a decision in his mind that lust is good, he too should have it, it means his intention has now changed.

Yet, he’ll not be able to indulge in lust throughout his current life. It’s because the current life’s mind is based on the intentions and opinions he had harnessed in his past life, which were not in favour of lust. But now that new knowledge has arisen that he ought to develop lust, therefore he shall be born with lust in his next life, and shall enjoy the path of lust. This is the science of intent!

The one who is not born with lust but has an inner intention of developing it, Nature grants it to him in his next life. Similarly, the one who is born with lust and continues to have the inner intention of developing it still further, Nature grants him a deeply lustful life in future too. It is because of error of one’s knowledge that the intention of developing lust arises. This is the knowledge of worldly life, which is purely temporary and it continues to change according to circumstances. Whenever one makes the decision in favour of this knowledge, he moves away from liberation!

How does one become free from lust?

One may have been born with lust, but if from within he now feels, ‘This is wrong! Why am I doing this?’ his inner intention has changed. Hence, in his next life, he shall no more be born with lust nor will lust bother him in the entire life. The one who is repenting is becoming free!

Thus, lust may arise! But whenever lust arises in the mind, one must never get involved in the object of the lust. Pujya Deepakbhai prescribes a 4-steps process, which when put into practice, puts you onto the path of reversing the lust and one day, victory shall be yours!

These 4 steps are:

1. Firm Determination that lust is wrong. For this, it is imperative to know with 100% conviction that lust is indeed wrong. Your mind may remain immersed in lust. Don’t bother about it; just ensure your inner intention to get rid of lust remains clear and pure.

2. Deep Analysis of how lust is wrong. Study how and why is lust wrong. Analyze in detail the negative impact of harnessing lust. And simultaneously list down all the positive gains in life where there exists no lust for lust anymore.

3. Seeking Forgiveness with hearty repentance each time lust arises. Param Pujya Dadashri says, “If there is remorse for lust, then it will go away.” So, whenever lust arises, immediately do pratikraman. Pratikraman is a 3-step process, that is made up of:

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a) Apology. I have done so and so mistake.

b) Repentance. I ask for forgiveness for my mistake.

c) Promise. I decide not to do this mistake again.

When one directly connects with the Pure Soul (God) residing in the person for whom lust has arisen, and asks for strength from that Pure Soul to not do the mistake again, it is very effective.

4. No Protection provided to lust, ever. By protecting, one only encourages it, and thereby strengthens it for the next life. Therefore, when lust arises, in the inner intent one must keep telling himself that, ‘I am doing wrong. I must never do this’. Our constant effort should be in the direction of reaching the stage where we no more not get overpowered by lust.

For those who really want a release from this suffering, this unique process of Gnani Purush proves to be a guaranteed key to come out of it.

Knowledge of the Self – the Deepest Science of Liberation

Param Pujya Dadashri says, “The reason why one feels the sweetness in lust is because one has not experienced sweetness anywhere else. This momentary sweetness and pleasure renders one unconscious even while awake.”

Lust is something that arises and passes away; it is not permanent, but we are! We are really a Pure Soul. Soul is an eternal element and hence is permanent. When one tastes the bliss of the Soul, one’s craving for lust disappears on its own. It is like drinking a cup of tea with enough sugar added, after eating ice cream. You would exclaim, ‘This tea tastes like it has no sugar in it’, isn’t it?!

Since you had the ice cream, which is many times sweeter than the sugar in a cup of tea, you do not find the tea sweet anymore! Similarly, the eternal bliss of the Soul that we experience in Self-Realization ceremony, conducted by the Gnani Purush, is way beyond the happiness that one experiences from worldly pleasures. It breaks our interest in lust and the spring of pure love erupts!!

To conclude:

Everything is based on our inner intention. That is what needs to get purified! The inner intent is the cause and whatever is happening today is a mere effect of the past life’s causes. Effect is nothing but a result of past life’s causes that unfolds in this life.

And when we attain Self-Realization, our lust automatically gives way to pure love!