*Love and Lust*

*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. Any obsession, including sex, devoid of love, is lust. In lust, even a living being becomes a mere object. You want to use even people like objects. Love and lust are so close yet so different! 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, 'I want you to have 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 brings 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 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. Once Lord Śiva, 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 Śiva woke up, he opened his third eye and the lord of lust, Kāmdeva, also known as Manmatha (one who churns the mind), was reduced to ashes. During the Holi festival, an effigy of Manmatha (Kāmadeva) is burnt, which is known as Kāmadahana. Everybody celebrates by throwing colours on each other, realizing that life is full of colours. We play many roles in our lives. If all the roles get mixed up, it becomes dark, like when you mix all the colours. The wise play each role distinctly, like the colours displayed side by side form a rainbow.