Sidney Sheldon, Mills & Boons, Danielle Steel have one common factor that makes some parents squirm to watch their teens read it, and these books are also some of the top selling ones amongst the tweens. It is a fact that in between the 300 odd pages of a book lies around 5-10 pages describing the act of coitus between two individuals. (Maybe, that’s why the squirm and the book-sales.) The feeling that arises on reading such sensuous, erotic material is what is termed as Lust. Erotic literature is just one of the forms of inducing lust in an individual.
Lust is one of the most basic, banal & inherent emotion or feeling. It’s a sudden adrenaline rush to the brain where the pheromones try to tell that you need that raw, naked skin touch between two individuals. It is a thought of having the pleasure of feeling the touch between two individuals at that very moment (in a manner not suitable to be explained to children!). Lust generates the ability to enact, albeit mentally, elaborate sequences. An immediate surge of passion, energy & a very new zeal for the human body is generated on feeling lust for an individual. The act of imagining the human flesh meeting & generating hot, yet sweet, sweat is the basic necessity of a human being, & that is what is reminded to us by feeling lust for a person.
I had this colleague who had the habit of drifting off every-time he saw a beautiful girl/lady walk across the road, so much so that he would end up turning the mirrors of the car to get a “better view”. This feeling of lust is not restricted to only guys. During a trip to a local mall, I remember having seen girls go gaga over Ranvir Singh, who had come there for some purpose, to the extent that had he requested them to do something stupid to spend some-time with him alone, they all would have done so without blinking an eyelid.
Lust isn’t a bad “thought” per say, as put across in this world. It is a natural & healthy method of your body telling you that the person for whom you are lusting is quite an attractive person, which I should say is a good compliment. Being a prude in the present world is equivalent of being narrow minded. Lust is a raw necessity of the human body to get the Kundalini energy subdued or satisfied. It’s not a sin or the slightest of bit wrong to Lust over someone.
Imagine (for the boys) Nicole Scherzinger or Katrina Kaif walking towards you. Doesn’t it generate a smile on your face? Now imagine you are sitting on a beach reading a magazine, enjoying a little quiet time on your own. Now picture Nicole Scherzinger walking out of the sea towards you, soaking wet & dripping sea water from her well chiseled, heavenly body all along, in nothing more than a two piece!!! Brings out an even bigger smile on your face & goose bumps suddenly crop up [along with other tools ;)].(Girls: imagine the above scenario with Taylor Lautner or Hrithik Roshan in speedos or a banana hammock if you wish…)
This feeling is quite common isn’t it? This passion or lust is sprung in an individual many a times by many a means. It may be by looks of a person or by the body of the person or if nothing just the dreaminess or sparkle in the eyes of a person. It is a sudden passion arising in the individual, trying to tell them that “OH MY GOD!!!” the person that generated this sudden rush of testosterone/oestrogen is HAWT!!!
The ability to generate lust has become the selling point, USP of many a movies too in the present times. Adding in that sexy item number, or a steamy hot sex scene, loads of body showing or for that matter even nudity is used in various forms or proportions to generate the interest of the viewers, even if the whole movie has no connection to it. Lust and sex go hand in hand. Unfortunately sex being a taboo topic in most parts of the world, lust gets a negative tag to it too.
Lust starts creeping its way in a kids mind from the time he/she hits puberty. It is not a phase of life that comes & goes. Lust persists in an individual right till the very end as the roots of this emotion is quite strongly embedded in us from the times of way before even Adam & Eve fornicated in the Garden of Eden. When Adam ate the apple from the forbidden tree, it wasn’t as if lust was not present in the world now is it. Mother Nature has inbuilt this emotion/feeling in every animal (let us not forget that we humans are animals too). The peacock opens it full plumage to attract the peahen so that it can get its hormones surging. The lion’s mane is meant to induce lust in the lioness, & for that matter lioness decided on which lion to use to procreate judging upon the density, colour of the lion’s mane. For the lioness, the mane of the lion is used to define “hotness”, “sexiness” of the lion.
Lust is one of the feelings present in us human beings that still reminds us or is reminiscent of our original animal ancestry. Lust is a sensuous passion present in every individual & surely needs satisfaction on & off to control one from going about it in the wrong means. It is a rise of energy towards a certain thing at that moment of time.
Coming back to the point, Lust is not at all a sin or a coveted emotion, but what is wrong is not to have the self-control & understanding the limitations that one needs to imbibe with. One cannot take the lust as an excuse to go astray & say rape or commit adultery or become a pedophile.
The act of heinous acts of rape, pedophile and adultery are by no means the outcome of lust. It’s more the outcome of lack of sense of self-control. It gives the adulterers a sense of power & a sense of pseudo-satisfaction that they still have the charm, looks in them to induce lust in the other person.
The craving for sexual satisfaction isn’t the reason for adultery. Charlie Sheen, Tiger Woods are just a few of the personalities whose adulterous lifestyle has come out in the open. With a wife like Denise Richards, I doubt Charlie Sheen would be looking for beauty in some other women. It is merely the act of making one feel superior or getting one to believe that I can still get my way through in the world of sexual fantasies & demands that leads people to go on the path of adultery.
I don’t say Lust is a bad thought or feeling arising. But using it as an excuse to commit adultery is truly a SIN. Lusting over a person, or to basically put it across frankly, having sexual thoughts about any person is a healthy sign. But one only needs to control such thoughts & learn to channelize this energy in various other fields like hobbies. Not to sound psychological and all, but come on, one can’t be humping around the whole day now can we!!!
– Written by Guest Writer, Nikhil Rao, as a run-up to this blog’s 3rd blogoversary.
amarllyis 
Nicely written. The point about lust not being the reason (while lack of self control and the desire to feel superior) for sexual offenses is also well taken.
About Adultery being a sin – if you meant “sin” in terms of ethics – then yes – point well taken. Complete agreement. But if you mean “sin” in terms of religion or moral judgement handed down by a divine entity – then I completely disagree.
Also, just like every concept/idea/word, “lust” can be interpreted metaphorically – the lust for money, the lust for a double cheese burger, the lust for a size zero figure, the lust for power, etc. I believe you could have covered that with a paragraph’s worth of mention. It would have been even more challenging and interesting to try to rationalize such metaphorical forms of lust and try to see positives in such behavior. I would loved to see you attempt to do that (as an interesting challenge)! 🙂
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