(Lord Sri Krishna)
Devotee: Are the people in this age lusty in the modes of ignorance or are they lusty in all three modes?
Prabhupāda: Anyone who is in the material world, he is lusty. Maybe difference of degrees. That doesn't matter. But he is lusty. Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ. Everyone is trying to lord it over the material nature. That is lust. Now, the ant is trying to lord it over the material nature in his own way, and the big politician, he is trying to lord it over the material nature in a different way. Everyone is trying. So that lording it over the material nature is a sign of lust. So you can take it for granted that anyone who is within this material world, he has got that contamination of lust, maybe manifested in different degrees.
But who has come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has no more lust because he wants to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. He doesn't want to satisfy his senses. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. His aim of life is how Kṛṣṇa will be pleased. That's all. And lust means "how my senses will be satisfied." That is the difference. The process of satisfying is going on. In our conditioned life we are trying to satisfy our senses, and in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness life we are satisfying to please Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference. So my work is not stopped, but the goal of life is changed. That is liberation.
We don't say that you kill your desire. No. You purify your desire to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Now your desire is to satisfy your senses. That's all. This has to be purified, that you shall desire, but you shall desire to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then your perfection is there.
In one way it is very simple and easy because I know how to satisfy my senses. I am doing it life after life. The same endeavor should be engaged for satisfying Kṛṣṇa. That's all. The process has not to be learned by me. I know it. Simply account has to be changed. That's all. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very simple and easy. Immediately you come to the spiritual platform, or transcendental platform.
That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta: lust and love, what is the difference between lust and love. In the material world there is no love. Because everyone is directed by lust. The so-called love... A young boy is trying to love a young girl, or young girl is trying to love a young..., but the background is lust. There is no love. It is simply a show of love. Therefore, after satisfying lust, there is divorce, there is separation. So in the material world there is no possibility of love. It is all lust. Love is only possible when you love God. There is no lust. There is no question of sense gratification. Simply for love: "Kṛṣṇa is my lover. Kṛṣṇa is my master. Kṛṣṇa is my friend."
Just like Arjuna. Arjuna is loving Kṛṣṇa as friend. So he is so great lover that in the beginning he hesitated to fight, "How shall I kill my kinsmen?" But when he understood, "Kṛṣṇa, my friend, desires. Oh, never mind." So there was no lust. Simply love of Kṛṣṇa. So lust and love, that means the same thing is there. Simply one has to change the account. That's all. Lusty people, they are working on account of sense gratification, and lover of Kṛṣṇa is working for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction. The activity may appear superficially the same.
Just like these boys in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People may say, "What they are doing? They are also eating, they are also cooking, and offering Kṛṣṇa, and they say it is Kṛṣṇa conscious. What is the difference between this foodstuff with the hotel foodstuff?" In this way they may think. "Oh, they are also typewriting, they are also using dictaphone and this tape recorder and all this material." But they do not know that everything is being used for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore there is far different. There is no lust. So you can utilize everything if it is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not for satisfaction of your lust. Then your life is sublime.
We do not reject anything, but we accept anything. The only difference is that we do not accept anything for our sense gratification. We do not accept this tape recorder for sense gratification, singing or dancing. We accept this tape recorder to record Kṛṣṇa's glories, to record Kṛṣṇa's topics. So this is the difference only. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. Dovetail everything in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and it is perfect.
And dovetail anything with your lust or sense gratification? Apparently, it may be very good, nice thing, but it is nonsense; it is lust. So somebody is using religion for satisfaction of his senses, somebody is using Bhagavad-gītā for satisfaction of his senses. We do not wish to discuss all this in detail, but actually there is no training how to use things in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is being now introduced in this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how to make everything perfect, dovetail in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Los Angeles, January 1, 1969)
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