1. Does lust originate in the mind or in the soul?
2. If lust is a standard form of distortion of our original desire to love Krishna, then why is it not expressed in children and expressed differently in males and females?
3. Are anarthas fundamental unchangeable programs given to us by nature or additional changeable impressions created by us?
Answer:
Lust and other anarthas are present in the subtle body. It is expressed differently in different bodies. Say for a program for internet exploring, it is either in chrome or in android, or edge in Microsoft, or safari in apple. All do the same job of distorting our love for God to some other thing. Hardware is the body; software is the subtle body.
So in children, the biological faculty is not developed, so they don’t express lust. But they do like toys. Now we can program ourselves too, like a child who doesn’t give up the toys even after growing up, or a young child developing desire for sex before they are adolescent. Males express their desire in the act of coitus, while females prefer the cuddling and stuff. That’s how the desire is expressed differently in different bodies, be it male, female, or animals etc.
Anarthas are like a covering, meaning they are real, and they are also a program. So it is latent in the soul.Also, anrthas can be removed or aggravated from our actions. The sanskars are the program. The way we enjoy again and again, that creates a pattern for us. The impressions are a subtle covering. For E.g. like developing a liking for baseball when one goes to America, steadily. Normal desires are given by nature. Sex is given by nature, but attraction to cricket is what we have created. Some programs are created by us, and some are given by nature.
The universal programs like lust, greed etc are given by nature. Eating sleeping mating and defending is given by nature. All are check able, and controllable. Eating within limits, within the nature’s arrangement is normal. But gluttony, eating non vegetarian food, overeating and selective eating, is done by us.
Then how can one change the natural desires? The programming itself is an entity. The software itself is an entity. It is subtle, but it is there. It actually exists. Eating, sleeping, mating and defending is natural. They are aggravated, and expressed in various ways by us. They are sanskars. Even the natural desires can be cleansed by the process of devotion. When we are disconnected from God, and when we forget our identity as souls, we are inferior to nature. When we connect to God, we are superior to nature.
Some sanskars are stronger than the other. The needs are to be regulated, and the other sanskars can be eliminated. Some are fundamental, like lust greed etc and are very deep rooted, whereas the other desires like sports etc are superficial. When we say we use lust, greed etc. in the service of God, it means we use that intensity to serve and desire God.
Our karmas have two effects, one is suffering from it and the other is in the for of sanskars. We get the body according to our own karma, and that body had some innate desires. Ultimately it is our own karma which is coming to us. The sanskars are rearranged in such a way that they harmonize the craving in that body. Humans are repelled from swamp, while pigs love it. We have created the attraction to indiscriminately stuff food in this body when that sanskars is given a particular body and a particular expression. Our gross body also determines the expression of sanskars we get to some level.
1.Desires from the soul
2. Multiple level of programming at subtle level
3. Programming at gross body level.
Swaminarayan Glory 