Lust is our longest life-partner – from the first hints of adolescence to the last gasps of old age, even to the death-bed; from the moment of waking to the moment of sleeping and, of course, into the sleep.

Lust is also our worst life-partner: no one else promises so much and delivers so little. It paints its pleasures in the most glowing colors, yet the actual enjoyment is pathetically paltry, no matter how much we crave and scheme to increase it.

If any other normal life-partner had betrayed us so many times, we would have divorced that person long ago. But not lust. Nothing breaks our trust in lust. Sometimes, when its deceptions land us in excessive trouble, we profess to banish it. But we still leave a secret place for it at the back of our mind; we still believe that somehow, someday it will keep its promises.

Why do we trust lust so naively? Because we don’t know any other source of happiness.

The Bhagavad-gita presents us that alternative: Krishna. Gita wisdom explains that lust is a perversion of our original love for Krishna, and outlines the process of devotional service that provides experiences of richer, deeper happiness.

If we want those experiences to last, we need to divorce lust, as the Bhagavad-gita (15.5: vinivrtta kamah) indicates. Why? Because lust is a material emotion. It drags our thoughts away from Krishna, who resides at the spiritual level.

Initially divorcing lust may seem impossible. But it becomes possible when we focus not on disconnecting from lust but on connecting with Krishna. If we offer Krishna just a fraction of the trust that we have offered lust, we will soon discover that he will be a far better life-partner, in fact, the best life-partner – and an eternal life-partner at that.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 Text 05

“Those who are free from false prestige, illusion and false association, who understand the eternal, who are done with material lust, who are freed from the dualities of happiness and distress, and who, unbewildered, know how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attain to that eternal kingdom.”