“The Blessed Lord said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world.” (Bhagavad-gita, 3.37)

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श्री-भगवान् उवाच
काम एष क्रोध एष
रजो-गुण-समुद्भवः
महाशनो महा-पाप्मा
विद्ध्य् एनम् इह वैरिणम्

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa
rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ
mahāśano mahā-pāpmā
viddhy enam iha vairiṇam

1. Desire

Long ago, during the period of history documented in the Ramayana poem of Maharishi Valmiki, there were sages living in a forest known as Dandaka. The sages were peaceful by nature. They were not bothering anyone. They carried no ill motives. They were worshiping. They were praying. They were acting out the principles of the science of self-realization, sanatana-dharma, on a playing field free of distractions.

That is, of course, until intruders arrived. If the sages were fully renounced, if they had not a penny to their name, what would thieves even look for? What valuables were there to take? In this case, it was the activity of the sages that posed a threat. The intruders were also known as rangers of the night, nishachara. Their objective was to spoil religious sacrifice, yajna, just moments prior to completion. Like when you are about to place the final block on your tower, hammer in the final nail to the frame of the house, or place the toppings on your cake after it has cooled, the sages had their efforts completely spoiled.

How were the night-rangers so successful? How could they attack so easily? The Sanskrit is “kama-rupa.” These beings could take any shape, rupa, at their desire, kama. This was a kind of siddhi, or perfection, but in this case the ability was part of the overall curse that is the Rakshasa way of living. It is something like being bestowed generational wealth so that you can influence future politicians for destroying society at large.

राक्षसैर्दण्डकारण्ये बहुभिः कामरूपिभिः
अर्दितास्स्म दृढं राम भवान्नस्तत्र रक्षतु

rākṣasairdaṇḍakāraṇye bahubhiḥ kāmarūpibhiḥ
arditāssma dṛḍhaṃ rāma bhavānnastatra rakṣatu

“We sages are constantly harassed in the forest of Dandaka by the Rakshasa demons who wear different shapes at will. Only You can protect us, O Rama.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 10.10-11)

The sages eventually received help, as their predicament was one of the external justifications for the appearance of the avatara known as Rama. The greatest helper to Rama, Shri Hanuman, possessed a similar ability. He could make himself incredibly large, such as when requiring a leap across the ocean. He could also become small, if so desired, like when searching through Lanka for the missing princess known as Sita.

सूर्ये चास्तं गते रात्रौ देहं सङ्क्षिप्य मारुतिः
पृषदंशकमात्रः सन् बभूवाद्भुतदर्शनः

sūrye cāstaṃ gate rātrau dehaṃ saṅkṣipya mārutiḥ
pṛṣadaṃśakamātraḥ san babhūvādbhutadarśanaḥ

“At night, on the sun having set, Maruti [Hanuman] contracted his body. Becoming the size of a cat, he was a wonderful sight to behold.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 2.49)

2. Sense gratification

The Vedic texts reveal that there are four principal rewards available to the human being. These are dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. In the context of these rewards, kama is sense gratification or enjoyment of the senses. We can think of it like eating delicious food, sleeping peacefully, hearing nice music, or coming in contact with the best fabric. Dharma is religion or religiosity. Artha is interest or success in work. We can say that artha is economic development. Moksha is the final release from the cycle of birth and death. Goswami Tulsidas explains that these four rewards, while important, become of secondary concern once there is a firm connection in consciousness to the same Rama, who is always accompanied by the goddess of fortune, Sita.

स्वारथ परमारथ रहित सीता राम सनेहऽ
तुलसी सो फल चारि को फल हमार मत एहऽ

svāratha paramāratha rahita sītā rāma saneha’
tulasī so phala cāri ko phala hamāra mata eha’

“Tulsi says that having pure love for Sita and Rama, without thinking of self-interest or supreme interest, is a reward superior to the four rewards of life. That is my opinion.” (Dohavali, 60)

3. Sex life

In general conversation, outside of Vedic culture, the word is commonly associated with the book known as Kama Sutra. A sutra is like a string or necklace. This book is thus a treatise concerning the stimulation of kama, which is sex life. In Bhagavad-gita, Shri Krishna explains that He is equivalent to sex life that does not violate religious principles, or dharma.

बलं बलवतां चाहं
काम-राग-विवर्जितम्
धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु
कामो ऽस्मि भरतर्षभ

balaṁ balavatāṁ cāhaṁ
kāma-rāga-vivarjitam
dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu
kāmo ‘smi bharatarṣabha

“I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O Lord of the Bharatas [Arjuna].” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.11)

4. Lust

In this context, the concepts described above become extreme in nature. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wonderfully explains that this lust is the result of the transformation caused by contact with the material nature. The original tendency is towards pure love, which is directed at the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As material existence is the perverted reflection of the eternal way of living in the spiritual sky of Vaikuntha, the same loving tendency has a different manifestation, one that tends to be detrimental.

How harmful is kama manifesting as lust? In one sense, it is the greatest enemy. It can devour everything that a person otherwise has worked for. It can steal their intelligence. It can suppress better judgment. It can make them gravitate towards harmful behavior, again and again, even when they otherwise know better. Even if they have experienced pain resulting from such indulgence in the past, it is like the lust erases that portion of the memory drive, so to speak, be it random access, solid state, or hard disk.

In one sense, the meanings are identical, irrespective the context. The height of sense gratification in the material world is sex life. Desire on its own tends to be detrimental, since the objective is to satisfy the senses. The purified version of kama is bhakti. The teachers in the Vaishnava tradition emphasize the shift towards bhakti, rather than attempting to artificially suppress kama altogether. When the same tendencies for work, for meeting objectives, are for satisfying the Supreme Lord, who is also known as Hrishikesha, then desire itself becomes an agent of purification.

In Closing:

Meanings on context to depend,
Kama for sense urges to expend.

Effort in this way and that,
Never satisfaction exact.

As lust to devouring enemy turned,
Indulgence despite bitterness earned.

Purified when transformed to bhakti way,
Evident in love of God display.

Categories: the four

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, kama, poem, poems, poetry, sanskrit