When Lust Hits Hard || Acharya Prashant (2025)

When Lust Hits Hard || Acharya Prashant (2025)

Author Name:Acharya Prashant

Youtube Channel Url:https://www.youtube.com/@AcharyaPrashant

Youtube Video URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f71EFN_OE4M



Transcript:
(00:00) Suppose I'm addicted to porn, or addicted to sugar, or I want to have this sugar, or I have to watch porn [music] 5 minutes a day. So, every day I feel these animalistic instincts, and every day I'm stuck in a kind of a rut. >> As you spoke to me, did you experience [music] lust? No. >> [applause] >> I just wanted to know how much is okay, or is anything okay, or I would never say stop masturbating, because that's the only thing that he anyway has.
(00:30) People in their 40s, 50s, 60s still do the same things that they did as teenagers. And in their 20s. Why are uncles behaving like kids? The way they move, the way they wear. And they want to, you know, look as if they're 18. They They behave like 18. Immaturity. Immaturity as an epidemic. I'm 45, but I must look 25.
(01:00) Uh Namaste, sir. Uh There are our animalistic instincts that crave that craving that we have every day. That uh we have to do something without that we'll not be able to do it. Be it porn, be it sugar, or be it whatever. So, is the right way to live is to let it be in its center? Keep Whatever I'm feeling, just letting it be and not act on it.
(01:27) See, there is a certain pleasure in living by those instincts. Right? Yeah. And you need pleasure. So, those instincts have a reason to exist. They don't exist purposelessly. They give you pleasure. And you can overcome that pleasure only with a higher pleasure or a higher purpose. When you have a higher purpose, then all these lower pleasures get aligned to that.
(02:01) But we'll never be free of our animalistic instincts. >> be free. Yeah. >> But they'll be subsumed. Subsumed. >> What is subsumed? Consumed by the Not consumed. They will become aligned. They will accept the suzerainty of the higher one. So, suppose I I took great pleasure in being on the on the stage. It was very important for me, and I was playing a particular character in Ionesco's play, Rhinoceros.
(02:35) There was nobody available to to play that part, so I took it up. I was directing it as well. I had 1 and 1/2 months. I purposefully lost a lot of weight just to look the part. I would have never otherwise lost the that that kind of weight. Because there is a pleasure in sugar, there or in other things, in pizza, in this, in that.
(03:01) There is certain pleasure there. Why should I give up on that pleasure? There has to be something higher in life. >> [snorts] >> And that's what the typical kind of lok dharmic renunciation fails to understand. You cannot just order people to give up this or that. First of all, they have to acknowledge a higher challenge, which brings with it a higher pleasure, a higher purpose.
(03:30) And then all these little things, they fall in place. They either disappear or get aligned. You don't even have the time to think about them. And you gave a number that 50 after 50 I'll be playing a pro game or a higher game. What if I want to do that when I'm 30? That's fine. That's fine. 50 is is the very uttermost liberal extreme.
(03:53) >> might die tomorrow, so I Yeah, obviously obviously. Don't don't want to make it too tough for the audience, made it [clears throat] 50. You can make it 12. So, every day I feel these animalistic instincts, and every >> They will be there. The thing is to make them follow something higher. Make them follow something higher.
(04:16) Let's say you crave for recognition from others, let's say. Fine? The ultimate thing is freedom from that craving. Correct. Right. Before you reach there, at least say, yes, I want recognition from others, but not for nonsense. Let me do something worthwhile to get that recognition from others. I still crave for recognition.
(04:42) But for something worthy. I can stand here and tell you some kind of uh [ __ ] jokes, some kind of stand-up nonsense, and you would still applaud me. That's quite possible. And let's say I still have that desire burning to hear that applause. And I say, yes, that applause is important. But I'll earn that applause by sharing something worthy with the audience.
(05:11) Now, that instinct is still there, not yet dead. But aligned with a higher point of consciousness. How will I transcend this For example, lust into Suppose I'm addicted to porn, or addicted to sugar, or I want to have this sugar, or I have to watch porn 5 minutes a day. And my ego says that watching porn 5 minutes a day is better than raping or something.
(05:38) >> those Yes, I understand. There would be always some kind of justification. But those who have been through the college life, been through the hostel life, in our get-together, again we were discussing many things, including this one. We all know very well that when there is something extremely important, it consumes not only just your day, your energy, but also your lust.
(06:05) Right? You'll forget all of that. Yes. Because your day is gone, your energy is gone, you're tired, sir. You will fall asleep. So, the way to live is best effort basis until you die. >> Obviously obviously. Spend that time doing what really matters to you. Okay. Right? Lust and all these are these are physical things, fine.
(06:30) The problem is Do Do you have somebody worthy in your life to share your lust with? Are you just gawking at a screen? Isn't there there some indignity in that? Right? I mean, to get a worthy partner, first of all, you have to have some semblance of worth in your own life. Now, get that kind of a partner, and have sex. Fine.
(07:00) I mean, but the then that is also dependent on that person. That That person might >> You You are not dependent on that person. You brought that person into your life because you and that person both value independence. It's a bond of independence. I love you because you are free. That's what the relationship says.
(07:24) Okay, sorry if if I have so many questions. I was stuck in a kind of a rut. >> spoke to me, did you experience lust? No. >> [laughter] [applause] >> No, not toward me or something, but in general. No, but there is a time of the day where you experience lust toward sugar >> Right.
(07:45) Let's say we continue this this we extend this to 2:00 a.m. Would you still experience lust? It's that time of the day. What if I look at some some something >> Uh yeah yeah you can do that. But when you are immersed in this conversation, this exchange, even at 2:00 a.m., would there be lust? No. That's what I'm saying. Lust knows when to bow its head down.
(08:14) Just give lust something or somebody worthy enough to bow down to. Even lust will bow down. Lust will not raise its head. Okay, so lust itself is not bad, but what it is bowing down to is >> Obviously. Otherwise, you see, if your life is meaningless, contentless, purposeless, then lust does have a place.
(08:36) Otherwise, you will die of boredom. So, you do something for the purpose of excitement and some random pleasure. You scratch your own body, and you get some kind of pleasure. Mhm. And that much pleasure is needed. Otherwise, you will die. But why have you brought yourself to that condition where the only pleasure available to you is scratching of the body? That's a pitiable position, is it not? The entire day, my entire life gives me no higher joy.
(09:05) So, that at the end of the day at 2:00 a.m., I start massaging my organs, and that's the only thing I get in my life. Now, what kind of life is this? And to this person, I would never say stop masturbating. Because that's the only thing that he anyway has. He'll be like, huh? You be me. But what if I So, I'm sorry.
(09:34) But But the thing is the craving, be it sugar or porn or whatever. What if that 5 minutes of my life will enable me to do other things which I actually need to do during the day? If If those 5 minutes you honestly say are enabling you to do other higher things, Mhm. then you have come to violate an ancient theory. The theory says the means and the ends go together.
(10:02) The means and the ends are inseparable. So, I'm not actually doing anything Obviously. How can watching porn enable you to do something great in life? What kind of greatness is that? No, just to get rid of that craving for I I fully appreciate where you're coming from because I come from a hostel. I was young once. I know what you are saying.
(10:24) But it doesn't go beyond a point. It doesn't go beyond a point. Yes, you have to complete a meaningless assignment. Right? And so, you you you close the screen for a while and you jerk off and you return to it and you say now I feel refreshed and now I can subject myself to two more hours of brutality.
(10:47) It works there. It works in that kind of condition. But why must you first of all subject yourself to that condition? Why? A warrior immersed in a meaningful battle, a battle that means the life to him. Will he tell his opponent, "You please, you know, let's just take 5 minutes each, a jerk break." Does that happen? You think that is happening between warriors, really? Forget warriors.
(11:27) Think of a grand slam final lasting 5 hours. Two mighty opponents. You have Federer, you have you have Nadal. 5 hours and they both are young, brimming with testosterone. You think in the break they are just >> [laughter] >> Is that happening? Is that happening? Why is that not happening? Because their energies are channelized elsewhere.
(11:53) That's what life is for. Right? To play a ruthless match. Not to just keep scratching your own surface. The problem does not lie in porn or masturbation so much. Those are trivial things in life. I'm not coming from the local dharmic standpoint where you are declared sinner or evil or threatened with hell because you're not a brahmachari.
(12:24) I'm not coming from there. I'm coming from another place. I'm I'm talking of the pity that an internal vacuum is. Why don't we have something higher in life? You see, this is a particular setting and we could have discussed anything. But please see that this is the most important concern that we have. That's what I'm saying is pitiable.
(12:54) Nothing else to discuss. I mean, what is it? It's like It's like urinating. It's like there is not not such a major difference. But but that little thing starts meaning so much to us because we don't have any great thing in life. Then all these little things start meaning so much so much so much so much so much.
(13:18) Otherwise, fine. I mean, you want to watch porn, watch porn. Okay. If you can watch porn in the middle of a meaningful life. If you can do that, do that. Fine. No, even I mean, I sing and I go to music classes and I'm I'm a artist as well, but the thing is I just I just wanted to know okay, how much is how much is okay or is anything okay or what should be done? >> That a doctor will better tell.
(13:45) I don't know. I don't know. And he is getting impatient. We need to find Acharya ji. I've noticed in myself and I notice this in others as well that it's very hard to have difficult conversations to have mature conversations. I always want comfort. I always want validation. And I notice this especially in the US. People have this fake have a good day.
(14:19) They don't want to go deep into things. It's very superficial. People in their 40s, 50s, 60s still do the same things that they did as teenagers and in their 20s. One example that struck me was the former president of Harvard University. His emails got released and he's [clears throat] talking he he was in his 50s and he's talking to another middle-aged man saying, "Will you be my wingman and will you help me get this girl?" And the whole culture seems to be revolving around not going deep and just being in this perpetual infant mode.
(14:57) That's the right word, infantilization. Immaturity, the cult of immaturity. Let's all remain immature because maturity brings responsibility. Have you seen people don't grow up? Have you seen that? Hm? In fact, I noticed the transition quite early. Class 10th I did from Lucknow and then I moved to NCR. And even between these two places that are hardly 500 km apart.
(15:38) One of the remarks I made was why are uncles behaving like kids here? Why are uncles behaving like kids? The way they move, the way they wear and they want to, you know, look as if they are 18. And if they can't look like 18, they make sure they they behave like 18. And that's not youthfulness. That's sheer immaturity.
(16:18) That helps because to be mature is to realize the futility of what you have been doing so far. To be mature is to move into another higher orbit. But moving into the higher orbit means having the courage to let go of what you had in your present orbit. When there is so much more that you have in your present orbit, it becomes difficult to leave it.
(16:56) That's what industrialization and then this e-age has done. An abundance of objects to be had. A great proliferation. You say, you know, there are all these things to do. I had my bucket list. I wanted to visit 18 countries. And I had told myself 18 before 35. Before I turn 35, I would be visiting these 18 countries.
(17:23) Now Now Now you you know at the back of your mind having visited eight of those countries that the remaining 10 are replicas, more or less mirror images. In fact, if you were not to be told the name of the geography, you might be unable to even differentiate whether you are in this country or that country. It's quite possible.
(17:49) And still, you stick to the old resolve. >> [snorts] >> Now you're 55 and you say I still have this this this to do. Sir, there is much more to do. There is a higher responsibility now in a higher orbit. But the lure of the objects tends to keep you an infant. I don't know how many of you would resonate with this one.
(18:24) You remember this uh What was that name of of that very popular brand of milk powder starting with F? Farex. And then later on Cerelac, right? So, what used to happen was when the younger sibling would be born it would be discovered that the elder one, now six or eight, hm? Is eating away all the Farex. Whereas, he should have outgrown it.
(19:00) Why is he still consuming the part of the younger one who really needs it? Because growing up would mean giving up on the lure, the taste. He has become addicted to what was available to him as an infant, as a kid. And that is what is happening to the entire humanity now. If I grow up, I'll have to give up Farex.
(19:32) But I'm addicted to Farex, so I won't grow up. I won't grow up. The fact is growing up has its own higher joys. But wherever there is a higher joy, there is also a higher challenge. Who wants to take up challenges? You would rather enjoy fairings. Hm? Not many people notice it, but this is
(20:17) this this should be declared by United Nations as epidemic of of this century. Immaturity. Immaturity as an epidemic. Daughters telling their mom, "Mama, grow up." And they're right. The mother is younger than the daughter. The daughter has all the right to scold her. Hm? Met my batchmates, they advised me
(21:11) to get this hairline repaired. Sanjeev here is smiling. He knows what I'm saying. I was astounded, but it was interesting. Why? Why should I look 25 when I'm not? Why should I look 25 when I'm not? Yes, I would want to stay fit, but that's another thing. This is not a part of fitness, or is it? And Botox and silicone and I see smiles here.
(21:59) Familiar territory, huh? All kinds of ammunition to deceive the mirror. I'm 45, but I must look 25. I must arrest aging. I must live another 15 years. What will you do with those 15 years? 15 more years of stupidity. What's the point? Better let it exhaust faster.
(22:50) Some of the best sellers in bookstores these days deal with exactly this thing. How to remain younger. How to live longer. What are they doing in Japan? How do they have so many centenarians there? What will you do with your 100 years? Please tell me. Anything even even remotely noble constructive sublime anything? No.
(23:31) You want to live longer and younger so that you can feast on more objects. Give me more time so that I can consume more. And that's what those files you are referring to point at. What if I can have sex at 75? Why should Why should I not have that? No No problem with having sex at 75. But but is that what you live for? And science is making it possible and it's increasingly happening.
(24:11) People are remaining sexually active for far longer. So So Father tells stealing their son's girlfriends. That's actually happening. So many cases in the courts. The son is suing the father. Mothers are actually jealous of their daughters. They don't want to carry them to the parties. In fact, they introduce themselves as their daughter's sisters.
(24:59) No, she's not my daughter. Yeah, I'm just my kid sister. Kid sis, what is that? Kid or sis? Where does all that come from? An increasingly strong belief >> [snorts] >> that one can be liberated from suffering without any inner illumination or maturity. Freedom from suffering is something you will compulsively always want.
(25:40) Always always always. Nobody can enjoy suffering. You will always say, "I want happiness." Initially pleasure then happiness. Joy. I want that. Nobody likes to suffer. But what this age is making available to you is the promise of freedom from suffering without growing up. You can have happiness without growing up. That's the promise of the markets.
(26:12) And if I can have happiness without paying the price of maturity I take the deal. This might be the final epidemic. The crisis of maturity. You can have a president an 80-year-old Hm? Play a dude. Enact a playboy. And in a very cavalier way, you know, just press the nuclear button. And pose with it. Yeah. So before being incinerated
(27:04) you'll have one great truth social post. The dude is posing as if he is 25. Hm? Before destroying the planet, he is serenading it. Bye-bye, Earth. See you. Being 80 now does not mean that you are deeper. It means you are more desperate. Ask girls, they'll tell you. They'll tell you in public transport they avoid uncles
(27:49) more than youngsters. Age is bringing desperation rather than depth. Uncles are far more eager to look fresh and available. And the society rewards that. That's considered cool. I'm not advocating the other extreme. I'm not saying
(28:34) that you should allow your body, your looks to fall to pieces as you grow up. No, I'm not saying that. Maintain a good body. Maintain a healthy body. Stay strong. But stay clear of inner desperation. That's the right purpose of experience. Experience should liberate you from the compulsion to have repetitive experience.
(29:07) You have already experienced enough. Why do you want to repeat that? That That's what age should bring with it. Yeah, I'm 50. Been there, done that. Liberated. Yes, son. You carry on. Your day, your time. I've had enough of it. And I have higher peaks to mount. That doesn't mean I'm retired. I have bigger challenges to take up.
(29:40) Higher orbits to fly to. You continue with what you are doing. Yeah, yeah. Those those those chicks are pretty. You want to pursue? Go there. Fine. Not for me anymore. I'm not retired. I'm advanced. I'm not out of the league. Now I'm in the pro league. Yeah? I'm not out of the game. Playing a higher game.
(30:41) Won't find too much of that in the US. I'm sorry, but can't say you would find enough of it in India also. So, probably the entire world is trying to ape the US in this regard. In fact, if you look at that popular image of Uncle Sam, does he look mature? The one with the with the tall hat. Huh? He's aged, right? He's not exactly a youngster.
(31:10) But does he look mature? By any measure? No. That's what the US is. Aged but still unsatiated. Hm? Filled to the brim but still hungry. Already the maximum contributor to the carbon count in the atmosphere but still desperate to emit
(31:55) more. I won't grow up. I won't say I've had my share. I've done my quota. I won't emit anymore. Not only have I been historically the biggest carbon emitter I'm still hell-bent on emitting even more. They boycotted the COP 30. They're out of the Paris Agreement. The epidemic of immaturity. If the oldies are trying so hard hm?
(32:39) to play it young let the youngsters take it on themselves to act mature. Would be fair, right? If daddy wants to act as if he is 15 at least let the son or the daughter grow up and act as if they are 30. The planet needs that. Somebody has to grow up.
(33:40) Yes. Hello. So, Acharya Prashant ji, I would like you to go more deeper into you know maturity because when I was thinking about it, what maturity is it's a very relative term, you know, like for you someone else can be you know like for me the term will be different. Maturity is very simple thing. No dispute in that.
(34:07) Maturity means independence. Why do you call the kid immature? Because it can't live without the mother's body. And when it is even more immature, it lives inside the mother's body. The more dependent you are on any material thing or person or idea, the more immature you are. That's the definition of immaturity. >> [screaming] >> He's not happy at being exposed.
(34:43) >> [laughter] >> This is the protest of immaturity. >> [laughter] >> Do you understand this? The more dependent you are, the more immature you are. That's a simple definition. It's not subjective. Not relative. No. I said, right? The The definition is implicit in what I already said. That the purpose of experience is to liberate you from the compulsive need for repetitive experience.
(35:23) I'm not dependent on that object anymore because all experiences are with respect to objects, right? Been there, done that. I'm free of it. That's what maturity is. I'm dependent on an ideology. That's immature. In India, you are 25, you are still sticking to your mother. That's immature. I'm dependent on beliefs.
(35:47) That's immature. I'm dependent on a crowd, an entire society. That's immature. Dependence of any kind is immaturity. Seen the pale leaf? That's the epitome of maturity. Been there, done that. Now I am not dependent even on the tree. So, maturity does not mean death. Yeah. Just giving you an example. An extreme example.
(36:23) Huh? And the very symbol of immaturity is the kid. Can't walk, can't eat. And when in the womb, can't even breathe. So, dependent in every way. So, you call the kid immature. The kid is physically dependent. So, physically immature. Most of us remain and emotionally dependent. So, we remain mentally and emotionally immature and that's what I said is the crisis of this age.
(36:57) Physically, we might not be dependent when we turn let's say 40. So, that fellow is not physically Though he is still physically dependent if he needs someone compulsively to have sex. Or even ogle. Even that is dependence, right? I need this person because without that body I can't even go to sleep. A lot of people say that.
(37:18) Unless I have a human warm human body lying next to me, I can't properly sleep. That's immaturity. That's immaturity. But probably that is overcome when you grow up in age. What's not overcome usually is the mental and emotional aspect of it. You say unless I hear from that person I don't feel at peace. That's immaturity. You get this? Unless my beliefs are validated I feel offended. That's immaturity.
(37:56) So what I can relate is that marriage is a direct consequence of immaturity because you are getting a partner to validate >> wanted to say that, but >> [laughter] >> you guys are growing up. So, I'm glad. >> [snorts] >> Okay. I'll think about it. >> [music]