IS IT LUST OR LOVE? (Part 9)

AUDIENCE: Diseases.

JAGAD GURU: Yes. We're very afraid of diseases because dying is one thing but being alive and being miserable is another thing. And this may also be connected with the fear of looking odd. People are afraid of diseases that will make people stare at them or drive others away. They're worried about what people are going to think.

You may have a guy who's got leprosy eating his face away and he's worried, "Good grief! What about the prom? How am I going to explain this? Clearasil is not going to solve it. Maybe a band aid will work."

So we can connect some of the fears here. What happens after you get the disease and start looking stupid? You get lonely because you lose your friends. Then, of course, you start to be afraid of dying. Do you have any more answers?

AUDIENCE: Fear of surrendering to the Lord.

JAGAD GURU: Now we're getting closer.

AUDIENCE: Fear of looking within yourself.

JAGAD GURU: Yes. People are afraid to look at their imperfections. And that is also connected with something else.

AUDIENCE: Afraid that the Supreme Lord won't love us.

JAGAD GURU: Yes, you're getting close.

AUDIENCE: Love.

JAGAD GURU: Yes, that's the answer I was looking for. We're afraid of love. Generally, people are afraid of love.

This is one reason we take shelter in lust. We are afraid of love. In lust, a person’s consciousness is one of protecting himself and getting things for himself. He's in the position of being in control. Now when you love, what do you lose? You lose control. There's a chance you may not be loved in return. The person you love might think you're funny looking or odd. He might not love you at all. You may be afraid that if you place your love onto someone, he will leave you. Or, that person will turn out to be a bad person. From so many angles, we are afraid of love.

Specifically, we are most afraid of loving. To a certain extent, we're okay with somebody loving us. But we're afraid of even that because to really appreciate the love they have for us, we have to open up our hearts also and we have to love. So even that can make the person uneasy.

AUDIENCE: It seems that love can be dangerous.

JAGAD GURU: Yes, love is dangerous. In love, a person is completely vulnerable. When a person is surrendered and there is love, he's completely—a hundred percent—vulnerable. The person he's loving can do whatever they want to do to him. This is why you have so much fear of loving in many people. They have loved someone they should not have loved. They have surrendered to the wrong person. They’ve given him their heart. They've given that person their mind. They've given him their body. And their beloved has taken their heart, mind and body and turned it into shreds of pain.

So we lose our faith in our loving. We are afraid of loving because we feel we will suffer the greatest misery of having our love destroyed and smashed.