One day Jogin found the Master alone and asked him, “Sir, could you teach me how to conquer lust?” “Chant the name of Hari [Lord], then it will go,” answered the Master. This simple remedy did not convince Jogin. He thought that the Master did not know any practical method and had prescribed something useless. “Moreover,” he thought, “so many people are repeating the name of Hari. Why does lust not vanish in them?”
The next day Jogin went straight to the hathayogi, and while he sat listening to the yogi, Sri Ramakrishna arrived. The Master took Jogin’s hand and asked Jogin to follow him. While they were walking towards his room, the Master said: “Why did you go there? Don’t do that. Your mind will only stick to the body if you learn those techniques of hathayoga. It will not thirst after God.”
Jogin again doubted Sri Ramakrishna. He thought that the Master had discouraged him from visiting the hathayogi to keep him from running away. However, he thought again: “Why don’t I do what he told me to do and see what happens?” Later Jogin said: “Thinking thus, I took the name of Hari with a concentrated mind. And as a matter of fact, shortly afterwards I began to experience the tangible result mentioned by the Master.”
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….. When Jogin was taken to the bridal chamber immediately after the ceremony, he began to chant God’s name even though the bride’s female companions laughed at him.
Jogin and his wife never slept in the same bed. Soon after the wedding, he went to visit his wife’s home. After supper, he went to the roof and walked there the whole night instead of going to bed. The next morning he returned home before anyone got up. Later, Swami Vivekananda remarked, “If there is anyone amongst us who has conquered lust in all respects, it is Jogin.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
Real austerity is based upon these three principles: First, take refuge in the truth. Truth is the pillar to which you must always hold while performing any action. Second, conquer lust. Third, renounce all cravings. Observe these three principles. That is real austerity, and the greatest of these is to conquer lust. It has been declared in our scriptures that he who practices continence for twelve years can easily attain God. This is the most difficult task. I can tell you from my own experience that it is not possible to meditate properly unless you keep continent. The craving of lust is very subtle, and extremely difficult to control. That is why a spiritual aspirant must always be careful in associating with the opposite sex. Through continence a special power is stored up in the brain. If a man becomes established in continence, he will begin to see the expression of God everywhere. But remember, it is not possible to practice continence without devoting yourself to the practice of japam. — Swami Brahmananda (Source: The Eternal Companion)
A young man came and sadly asked Sri Ramakrishna: “Sir, how can I get rid of lust? I strive so hard, still I suffer from restlessness due to passion and bad thoughts.”
The Master: “Look, lust doesn’t completely go away even when one realizes God. As long as the body lasts, a little lust remains even after God-vision — but it can’t raise its head. Do you think I am free from it? At one time I believed that I had conquered lust. Then one day when I was seated in the Panchavati, I suddenly had such an onrush of lust that it was hard for me to maintain control! Immediately I began crying, rubbing my face in the dust, and saying to the Divine Mother: ‘I have made a big mistake, Mother. I shall never again think that I have conquered lust.’ Only then did it subside. Do you know, you boys are now passing through a flood tide of adolescence? You can’t stop it. Can an embankment or a breakwater stop a tidal wave? The overflowing water breaks through and rushes forward, and then the water stands as high as a bamboo over the paddy fields. There is a saying, ‘Mental sin is not considered to be a sin in this Kaliyuga.’ If a bad thought happens to arise once or twice in the mind, why should you go on brooding about it? Sometimes those feelings come and go. They are natural to the body; consider them to be physical functions like the call of nature. Do people worry when they have an urge for the call of nature? Similarly, consider those feelings to be insignificant, trifling, and worthless, and don’t think of them anymore. Pray to God intensely, chant His name, and meditate on Him. Don’t pay any heed to whether those feelings come or go. Gradually, they will come under control.” It was as if the Master had become a youth while talking to that young man.
Advice to Yogananda in This Respect
In this connection we mention a story concerning Swami Yogananda. He was one of those rare persons who had complete self-control. One day at Dakshineswar he asked the Master the same question, how to conquer lust. He was then young, about fourteen or fifteen years old, and had been visiting the Master for a short while. At that time, Narayana, a hatha yogi, lived in the hut of the Panchavati at Dakshineswar and was attracting some people by performing neti-dhauti.7 Swami Yogananda said that he had been among those visitors. As he observed those performances, he thought that perhaps unless one practised these disciplines one could not overcome lust and see God. So after asking that question, he expected the Master to prescribe for him a particular yogic posture, or advise him to eat a myrobalan or some other thing, or to teach him a pranayama technique. Yogananda later said: “In answer to my question the Master said: ‘Go on repeating the name of Hari. Then lust will go away.’ This answer was not at all to my liking. I thought: ‘He does not know any technique so he just said something to pacify me. Does lust go away by chanting the name of Hari? So many people do that. Are they free from lust?’ Then one day I came to the temple garden and instead of going to the Master I went to the Panchavati and eagerly began to listen to the hatha yogi talk. In the meantime, the Master arrived there. As soon as he saw me, he called me over and took my hand. While we were walking towards his room, he said: ‘Why did you go there? Don’t go there anymore. If you learn and practise those techniques of hatha yoga, your mind will dwell on the body and will never turn towards God.’ At this, I thought: ‘He is telling me this lest I stop visiting him.’ I always considered myself to be highly intelligent, so my inflated intellect made me think that. It did not occur to me even once that it mattered very little to the Master whether I visited him or not. What a mean and doubtful mind I had! There was no limit to the Master’s grace. In spite of my harbouring such erroneous notions in my mind, he gave me shelter. Then I thought: ‘Why don’t I do what he told me and see what happens?’ So resolved, I took the name of Hari with a concentrated mind. And as a matter of fact, within a few days I began to experience the tangible result that the Master had referred to.” (Source: Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play)
Gradually, Harinath became familiar with Ramakrishna and began to ask all sorts of personal questions. “Sir,” he asked one day, “how can one become free from lust completely?” Sri Ramakrishna replied: “Why should it go, my boy? Give it a turn in another direction. What is lust? It is the desire to get. So desire to get God and strengthen this desire greatly.” Sri Ramakrishna’s way of teaching was simple, natural, and very effective. He did not ask his disciples to mortify themselves. He said, “The more you go towards the east, the farther you will be away from the west.” The more you increase your love for God, the more your lust, anger, and jealousy will decrease.
Seek the Highest, always the Highest, for in the Highest is Eternal Bliss. If I am to hunt, I will hunt the lion. If I am to rob, I will rob the treasury of the king. Seek the Highest. —Swami Vivekananda (CW/V5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/On Jnana-Yoga)
A disciple once asked Sri Ramakrishna how he was to conquer lust; for, though he was passing his days in religious contemplation, evil thoughts were arising in his mind from time to time. To him the Master said : “There was a man who had a pet dog. He used to caress it, carry it inabout his arms, play with it and kiss it. A wise man, seeing this foolish behaviour of his, warned him not to lavish such affection on a dog. For it was, after all, an irrational brute, and might bite him one day. The owner took the warning to heart and putting away the dog from his arms, resolved never again to fondle or caress it. But the animal could not at first understand the change in his master, and would run to him frequently to be taken up and caressed. Beaten several times, the dog at last ceased to trouble his master any more. Such indeed is your condition. The dog that you have been cherishing so long in your bosom will not easily leave you, though you may wish to be rid of it. However, there is no harm in it. Do not caress the dog any more, but give it a good beating whenever it approaches you to be fondled, and in course of time you will be altogether free from its importunities.’
Swami Shivananda
[To the question: “How are we to free ourselves from lust?”] My child, does anyone become completely free from lust? But, then, by repeating the Lord’s name again and again, it gradually subsides. Keep yourself far away from all the things which give rise to negative feelings. Whenever such feelings come to mind, pray to Thakur with folded hands. (Rem. Shiv., VK Mar. 1992, p. 112)
Swami Turiyananda
Mere suppression of passions helps little. There must be a high ideal along with self-restraint. Without a high ideal, the passions will find another outlet. You must give them a new direction, then you will be automatically rid of them. ‘Take refuge in Me and control the senses.’ As for example lust. The Master explained: ‘What is lust? It is the desire to get. Then desire to get Him, and strengthen this desire greatly.’ (Apos. p. 325)
There must be a psychology behind (lust), and what is that? It is the desire to attain oneness. Lust also is an aspect of that love. But men take a wrong course. They begin with the gross, hence their failure to carry it up to that Pure Substance, God. Some, however, have attained realisation even through this, as for instance Chandidasa… You have heard also of Bilvamangala, and of Tulasidas. Tulasidas was henpecked. His wife was going to her father’s house and Tulasidas followed her. Disgusted at this, the wife remarked, ‘If you can bestow even a grain of this love on the Lord, you will soon realise Him.’ At once his power of discrimination was roused. Men of this stamp are roused up by such trifling causes. Love and lust are two things very much allied. Hence Sri Ramakrishna used to say, ‘Lust is blind, but love is pure and resplendent.’ It is lust if you have the idea of man, and love if you have the idea of God in your beloved. (Spir. Talks p. 158)
[To the question: “Kindly make my mind free from sex-impulse.”] Look to the Atman, not to the body. Practise fixing the mind always on the Atman. ‘One gets attached to objects by constantly thinking of them. From attachment comes longing, and from longing anger.’ (Spir. Talks p. 270)
Conquer lust. Assert your independence. Conquer lust even before it can conquer you. Once the lust gets control over you, you are done for. It is just like what happens in wrestling feats. In wrestling, if once you fall below, you are done for. Through discrimination and devotion to God one can be free from lust. With the gradual increase of love for God, lust, anger, etc. wane out. (Spir. Talks p. 324)
Swami Trigunatitananda
The most effective means of getting control over the senses is to look upon all women as one’s mothers. You are apt to look on them otherwise from your very childhood, and you never call on women as mothers with all sincerity, that is why the problem of sense-control becomes so difficult. Just as on seeing an image of any goddess, we have a natural inclination to salute her, to worship her, and to pray to her, so also may our devotion be aroused on seeing any woman, and may we feel a natural inclination from within to bow down to Her! (Apos. p. 348)
Swami Adbhutananda
Keep a picture of Sri Ramakrishna with you. Whenever lustful feelings arise, you should look at the picture intently. You will find that the senses will gradually be gathered in and the mind will be freed from lust. (Adbh. p. 107)
Swami Ramakrishnananda
The more your love towards God is increased, the less will your lustfulness be. Always try to walk along the proper path. (Cons. p. 18)
Swami Saradananda
As long as there is a tinge of lust, as long as there is awareness of the distinction between man and woman, it is not right to say, ‘I am working under divine inspiration. I do everything He makes me do.’ Religious life has not begun until one has completely effaced the idea of sex and of all carnal desires. To carry this ideal into practice is difficult no doubt, but it is not impossible. Saints and divine incarnations have demonstrated the truth of this principle in their own lives. They are our exemplars. (Glimpses p. 138)
Why do you magnify a small matter into a big thing? You are wasting your time thinking about the origin and effect of lustful thoughts in your mind. Instead of doing that, try to cultivate a positive attitude and think day and night how far you have been able to love God and how much devotion you have toward Him. (Glimpses p. 139)
You have written that there have been lapses ten times before in the past. If there be ten times more in the future, you should not be dejected. Constantly brooding about things over which you now have no control will cause more harm than good. This will surely jeopardize your spiritual life. Dirt cannot be washed by dirt. Even charcoal looses its blackness when it comes in contact with fire. Similarly, lust cannot remain when the image of God pervades the mind. (Glimpses p. 140)
One thing you must bear in mind is that nobody has been able to conquer lust by his own effort. You can overcome lust only if the grace of God descends on you. Pray sincerely to Him for guidance. (Glimpses p. 140)
The only means by which we can overcome lust is through constant repetition of His name and not through privations and austerities. Has not the Gita said: ‘The abstinent run away from what they desire but carry their desires with them. When a man enters Reality, he leaves his desires behind him.’ (Glimpses p. 141)
Know for certain that none is completely free from the fetters of lust and greed until he has seen God. (Glimpses p. 146)
[To the question: “Frequently even at the time of meditation Kama (lust) makes its appearance vigorously.”] Never mind. It comes to all. Surrender yourself to the Lord and drive it away. But carefully abstain from such food as irritates the stomach and is not easily digested. (Spir. Talks p. 383)
Bhagavad Gita Explanation:
To experience higher taste. When you engage yourself in higher taste, lower taste vanishes.
विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिन: |
रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते || 59||
viṣhayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ
rasa-varjaṁ raso ’pyasya paraṁ dṛiṣhṭvā nivartate
BG 2.59: Aspirants may restrain the senses from their objects of enjoyment, but the taste for the sense objects remains. However, even this taste ceases for those who realises the Supreme.
Lust is a lower form of enjoyment, according to spiritual standards. Somebody with “Modern” thought, will have a different perception. But vedic scripture considers lust as an impediment on the path of spiritual life. It provides two options
- to give up totally and become a Brahmacari followed by Sannyasa with total engagement in spiritual practices.
Or
2. To fulfill the desire within marriage and gradually overcome lust.
Either way, the solution prescribed is more engagement in spiritual life. by doing that the affinity we have for lust will dwindle.
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