Can lust and love coexist in relationship?

In love even an object is elevated to life. Stones and trees speak to you; the sun, the moon, the entire creation becomes alive and divine. In lust even a living being becomes a mere object. You want to even use people like objects.

  • Lust brings tension; love brings relaxation.
  • In lust there is cunningness and manipulation; in love there is playfulness.
  • Lust focuses on a part; love focuses on the whole.
  • In lust you want to grasp and possess; in love you want to give and surrender.
  • In lust there is effort; love is effortless.
  • Lust brings violence; love brings sacrifice.
  • Lust demands; love commands.
  • In lust you are mixed up and confused; in love you are focused and spaced out.
  • Lust is dark and monotonous; love has many modes and colours.
  • Lust says, “All I want you to have is what I want.” Love says, “I want you to have what you want.”
  • Lust causes feverishness and frustration; love causes longing and pain.
  • Lust imprisons and destroys; love liberates and sets you free.

If someone’s lust is interrupted, they become angry and start hating. Hatred in the world today is not out of love; it is out of lust.

Shiva, 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 Shiva awoke, he opened his third eye and the lord of lust, Manmathava - one who churns the mind - was reduced to ashes.