Lust for life

Once upon a time, the legendary king Yayati committed infidelity and was cursed by his father-in-law , the Sage Shukracharya, to lose his wife and virility but not his desire!

Shukra’s curse on Yayati is the curse of human existence itself, Catherine Benton writes in her Tales of the God of Desire, we are all condemned to desire with intensity that which we are powerless to have! Yayati eventually comes to his senses: desire is ultimately insatiable, no matter how much time is devoted to its pursuit, he realises, and acknowledges the futility and emptiness of a life driven by desire.

He then shifts his attention to gaining religious insight. But does that mean the emperor has won a respite from desire? Absolutely not, says the Mahabharata, quoting a song or a discourse (Gita) delivered by the God of Love (Kama) himself !

“No creature is able to destroy me,” the God of Desire boasts. “Should a man of austerities attempt to destroy me with his asceticism, I appear in the guise of asceticism in his mind. The seeker is thus prevented from knowing me — the desire for liberation itself has become a desire! So, I am the everlasting one without compare.”

Evolutionary biologists present a similar perspective on Eros. “Go forth and multiply” is not just a Biblical injunction . It’s the engine that drives evolution and life’s ‘rage’ against death! That explains how some evolutionary drives are able to withstand the so-called death instinct. Had it had been otherwise, life would not have been able to climb out of the primordial soup and triumph over chaos!