Hello and welcome to episode 54 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. Today I want to talk about lust and how to overcome it.
Today’s question comes from Stephan. Stephan says “I’m addicted to pornography. I’ve managed to cut down a little but the craving is still there every day when I wake up. How can I overcome this?”
Acknowledgment
A lot of men have this problem so know that you are not alone. You’ve taken the first step by acknowledging the problem so that’s great. You are already a few steps ahead of others in the same situation.
What you need to do is aggravate the problem. So what do I mean by this? Well, imagine you had no food in your fridge and you’re starving. You’d find some way to grab some food right? You need to do similar here.
Don’t look at this problem lightly. If you aggravate it you will solve your problem a lot faster.
Self-effort and willpower
Remember that self-effort and willpower will not work. You can aggravate the problem but if you try to solve it with self-effort and willpower you will fail every time. You need to dump both. Your body mind and intellect cannot help you overcome this problem. You may have excellent qualities like logic and reasoning but they cannot help you here.
Surrender to knowledge
You must learn to surrender to knowledge. When you get rid of the body, mind and intellect and surrender to knowledge you will be able to connect with your consciousness and in turn the flood gates will open you will be able to solve your problems much faster.
Your consciousness can help you overcome this lust. No matter what they say, your friends or family, even the most intellectual people cannot help you here. Only your own consciousness can teach you how to overcome this lust so you can enjoy abundance and love.
Think of the story of Arjun. On the battle field he had to kill his enemies. Even his own teachers and friends who were on the opposing sides. He did not want to fight but Krishna told him: “One’s own law of righteousness though defective is superior to others well observed. Death in following one’s law is better than doing others fraught with risk.”
So what Krishna is saying is that even if you kill those who were once friends, you don’t need to worry. You will not incur the sin of killing because that is your dharma. That is your duty. So Fight. Arjun then asked, well how do we incur sin?
Krishna says “Its source is craving, wrath born of the rajas gunas. Know it to be a foe in this context. Just as fire is obscured by smoke, a mirror by dirt so is knowledge by craving. The Knowledge of the knower is obscured by the mist of craving as insatiable as fire. It’s dwelling place is the body mind and the intellect”
Gunas
So know that the source of all this suffering is gunas. Don’t feel bad as it is not your fault. There was nothing you could do. We all have these three types of gunas. Sattvic, rajasic and tamasic. All these instinctual qualities are coming to the surface and these are what are making you act this way.
Knowledge is the way out of this situation. The way you see a woman will be relayed back to you. It is like a reflection that comes back on you. You are seeing women as an object of pleasure so the emotion that will be reflect back on you is lust. So your thoughts and actions will then be based around lust.
For example when a child see a women he will be reminded of his mother and so feelings of love and caring will be reflected back on him and he will then act on these emotions and in turn be loving and caring.
Children don’t have those excess waves of gunas. You need to promote those sattvic waves. If you project sattvic thoughts then respect will be reflected back and you will only be able to think of respect when you think of a woman.
So how do we produce more sattvic gunas? We know self-effort and willpower won’t work. The only way to generate a sattvic gunas is through your consciousness. A sattvic gunas will fill you full of love, joy and appendance and that’s what will be reflected back at you. You’ll no longer be filled with feelings of lust.
Guilt and shame
There are two types of people. Those who have guilt and those who are shameless. Your behaviour is making you feel guilty. This guilt is then aggravating that craving feeling. Guilt is part of the tamas gunas. Shamelessness is the same it will also aggravate craving but I have good news for you.
Krishna says “Due to its beginning less and having freedom from attributes the supreme self though dwelling in the body is unstained.” Your consciousness has no guilt or shame. It is clean. No matter what you do it remains clean. Even if you lust a million time still It’s full of joy and bliss. It’s not effected by your thoughts and actions. Be rid of this guilt and you will be free. Don’t make your situation worse by having these feelings of shame and guilt.
You can either take recourse in your consciousness or your body, mind and intellect. Krishna says that you are your consciousness not your thoughts and actions. So don’t be rattled by guilt because your consciousness can never falter.
Pride
Secondly you must take pride in your consciousness. When you get up in the morning sit and write the following verses then read and meditate on them.
“Him the weapons cannot cut, fire cannot burn, water cannot wet, wind cannot dry. The self cannot be cut, dried, burned or wetted…Eternal, all pervasive, stable, immovable, everlasting the self-reigns”
“Due to its beginning less and being unborn and having freedom from attributes the supreme self though dwelling in the body is unstained” No matter what your thoughts or actions are they cannot stain your consciousness.
“That which is poison in the beginning but ambrosia nectar in the end is said to be sattvic pleasure but that which is ambrosia in the beginning and poison in the end is said to be rajasic pleasure. That which is poison in the beginning as well as the end is said to be tamasic pleasure.” So we have 3 pleasures sattvic, rajasic and tamasic.
So meditate on these 3 verses and take pride in your consciousness and within 24 hours this lust will disappear. Remember your consciousness is like a lion – courageous and powerful. Like a lion watches over his pride let your self be the same lion and have pride in your consciousness within.
I hope I answered your question. You keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.
