On Shri Krishna and Osho: Can love arise from lust?

Acharya Prashant
4 min readAug 5, 2021

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

श्रीभगवानुवाच:
काम एष क्रोध एष राजोगुणसमुद्भवः
महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणं

The Supreme Lord said:
It is a lustful desire & resulting anger born of Rajas, which is sinful & all-devouring; know this as your true enemy in the world.

~ Bhagavad Gita, 3.37

“Love has to arise out of Lust. If you avoid lust, you will be avoiding the whole possibility of love itself. Love is not lust; true but love is not without lust — that too is true.”

~Osho

Questioner: Lust is said to be an enemy in the Bhagavad Gita, but Osho says that out of lust love arises. How to have love arise from lust?

Acharya Prashant: Lust is called an enemy by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, and Krishna has been greatly wise in calling lust an enemy. But, to whom is he calling lust an enemy? He is saying this to those who consider lust as their friend. He is saying that if you consider lust your friend, kindly do not think that this friend will serve you any purpose. And that is why to highlight this false friendship, he has used the word enemy in the bracket of Shad Ripu (Shad = Six, Ripu = Enemy) that Krishna has mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. Lust is one of the six ripu (six enemies).

Lust must be called an enemy because most of us take it as a friend. If you don’t take lust as your friend then lust is no more an enemy. But we do take lust as a friend. How do we take lust as a friend? Who do we call a friend? We call that one a friend who would probably give us what we want. Our friendship is summed up in the popular aphorism “A friend in need is a friend indeed”.

So, who is a friend for us? The one who serves our needs? What is your deepest need? Your deepest need is liberation, Truth, God, Peace. You think that lust will provide this to you. That is why you consider lust as your friend. After…

Acharya Prashant