The delusion of Lust

[Rishi Das]

Is anyone here still being lustful?

 

Yes. 

[Orion]

The proscriptions against lust seem more relevant to pre-awakening. In post-awakening you realize you've always been awake and that the levels are meaningless ego games. You realize there is no supreme being to try for, you are it and so is everything else. It is everything and it's all right here. You can't get anymore into it than you already are. You can be angry, happy, sad, screaming, fucking... it doesn't matter. The whole thing is already perfected.

 

The realization amalgamates mind, body, and spirit. Mind works in cooperation with it. So does the body.

 

So I say go ahead and be lustful if it's the inclination. Abstaining when it's not what you really want or obsessing when you'd rather be free of it are both attachments that are just going to cause suffering; but whether attached or not, you're already free and nothing is wrong. Nothing is right either. All of the hierarchies can sublimate into it nicely.

[thelerner]

Is anyone here still being lustful?

Yes, and I feel a loss that I'm less lustful then I used to be. 

 

Though maybe lust has faded into appreciation due to maturity.

Or more likely, most lust was hormone driven or hormone sparked. 

The not so mysterious Way of the Penis. 

 

 

 

addon> That's in the here and now.  I spend time at an ashram being vegetarian, meditating, listening to dharma talks and I get mellow, androgynous and desireless.  

[neti neti]

Is anyone here still being lustful?

No, I'm not. I see it for what it is, desire for illusion, a symptom of self-forgetting due to misidentification with the body-mind. Fool's gold in the guise of promised pleasures unfailingly ending in pain; and the vicious cycle continues.

 

The pure and unadulterated Self lies beyond such fancies, untainted, affected by neither lust nor aversion.

 

Of course, one is free to pursue what appears pleasing to the eye, but one would be deluded to consider what appears as amounting to anything more than mere appearances. That which is without essence, without substance, without Reality.

 

If by the experience of lustfulness, a Bhogi comes to realize the bitter nothingness at the end of indulging his senses, then a Bhogi he is indeed. Otherwise, he remains in bondage.

 

If by the experience of renunciation, a Yogi comes to realize the ever-satisfying purity of Self at the end of controlling his senses, then a Yogi he is indeed. Otherwise, he remains in bondage.

Edited December 30, 2016 by neti neti

[neti neti]

On 12/29/2016 at 2:41 PM, Orion said:

 

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by neti neti

[Marblehead]

No, I'm not.

It's not often I offer a "Thank You" for a Buddhist oriented post.  But you did good.

[dwai]

Thought I'd add some more context. Strangely just after posting my latest comment about understanding why one might choose to remain separated as an experiencer of the joy and bliss, I happened to be open a book on the Ishopanishad and lo and behold! The very same topic popped up.

 

The explanation is very simple and yet eludes the intellect (even for those who have spent significant time doing atma vichara). All experiences are really of the Self...so those objects of the sensory apparatii, that cause us pleasure - tastes, sounds, sights, touch and mind - are all in our own consciousness. These are just small fractions of the bliss that is inherent of the Self - satchidananda! This consciousness, though conditioned is still our own Self (atman). So when there is no separate experiencer, the infinite bliss of the satchidananda is all there is. So it is wrong of the individual (limited) self to shy away from losing its limited identity out of fear of losing the bliss. This is what is called being "penny wise and pound foolish"

Edited December 30, 2016 by dwai

[SeekerOfHealing]

Lust is okay as long you do not think that lust is yours or you or mine or "I". 

[3bob]

or to put it another way is anyone here still having karma and dealing with mind/spirit transitions?

 

...i am 

[Marblehead]

or to put it another way is anyone here still having karma and dealing with mind/spirit transitions?

 

...i am 

 

Don't push yourself too hard on that one, 3bob.

 

I have done some "bad" things in my life and although I have apologized for them as well as I can I still get the memories haunting me now and again.  If we believe in intent for our life, I doubt that being "perfect" is one of them.  Acknowledgement and self-forgiveness brings us a lot of inner peace and contentment.

 

But really, I see no reason for the need of forgiveness for being lustful during our younger years.  It is, really, part of our instinct to propagate. 

[cold]

I balance the haunting memories against what could have been, and thankfully were not done. It seems to keep some balance peace.

[3bob]

there is a complete I am,  and also an i am to be worked on.

 

Karma has (or is) shed-able mass, it's escape velocity includes forgiveness.

 

Ego is a tough nut to crack, it takes a pick-axe from the inside and the outside to do so. 

Edited December 31, 2016 by 3bob

[neti neti]

It's not often I offer a "Thank You" for a Buddhist oriented post.  But you did good.

 

Glad you received it well. Throughout my search, I've found a common thread underlies our quest for re-discovery: Self-inquiry.

 

Some enjoy the thrills of being thrashed about among the waves of Maya, while others prefer to voluntarily offer up the entirety of their being to the Lord. Either may come to discover all of what they are not, and that which remains will be Self alone.