Lust allures men with pleasure and women with
power by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 03
Men sometimes accuse women
of dressing provocatively. Women sometimes accuse men of seeing women just as
sex objects.
Taking the discussion beyond
such blame games, the Bhagavad-gita (03.40) states that lust is present in
everyone’s senses, mind and intelligence.
Lust allures men with
pleasure, making them believe that sex is the gateway to life’s greatest
happiness. When they believe this lie, men see women as sex objects.
Lust allures women with
power – it makes them crave the thrill of captivating men by parading their
assets.
Certainly, women can’t be
blamed for men’s actions. If men commit sexual crimes, they are responsible,
because the lust that made them do such things didn’t come from their female
victims; it was present in them as a result of their own past indulgences, and
they chose to act on it.
And conversely, men can’t beblamed for women’s actions. If women argue that men are attracted to only those
women who exhibit their contours and so they too have to do that to gain
attention, then they perpetuate the same objectification that they object to –
whatever attention they may thus garner will be as sex objects, not as sentient
persons.
The Gita’s gender-neutral
delineation of lust’s location underscores that men and women are not
opponents, victimizing each other. Rather, both are potential victims of lust –
and should be partners in fighting it.
Gita wisdom explains that we
are neither male nor female but are spiritual beings – and we can find lasting
happiness by realizing our trans-sexual spiritual love for Krishna, the
all-attractive, the all-loving Supreme. By taking individual responsibility for
conducting ourselves in ways that decrease the feverishly high sexual
temperature in our culture, we can further our spiritual growth and progress
towards relishing the highest happiness – happiness that lust promises but
never delivers.
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