This week’s Monday Mantra card is Kama Deva, the Hindu god of love and desire.

Now, this could easily go off in a … umm… feral … direction. Love! Romance! Passion! The card even mentions success in love and romance, freedom from desire, sexual pleasure, and the ability to amuse and make people laugh.

But for this week’s practice, I want to keep it much more down to earth.

Kama Deva is not just about romance or attraction. He represents desire in a broader sense: the spark that draws us towards life. Desire is not automatically a problem. Without desire, we would not create, connect, care, reach out, learn, build, laugh, or enjoy much of anything. The problem is when desire takes over.

We all know the difference between a healthy desire and a craving. Healthy desire feels alive, warm and honest. Craving feels tight, grabby and often a bit desperate. Healthy desire can guide us towards what matters. Craving can pull us away from ourselves.

That is where Kama Deva becomes interesting as a focus for mantra practice. We’re not trying to make someone love us, attract a specific person, or force the universe to give us what we want. This is about being more conscious of desire, so we can relate to it with wisdom.

This Week’s Mantra

Om Kāmadevāya Namaḥ

Pronunciation:
Om Kaa-ma-day-vaa-ya Na-ma-ha

Meaning: Salutations to Kama Deva.

You can use this mantra when you want to reconnect with joy, warmth, affection, humour and the simple pleasure of being alive. It can also be helpful when desire feels confusing, overwhelming or tangled up with fear.

How to Practise

Sit comfortably and take a few easy breaths.

Repeat Om Kāmadevāya Namaḥ for 2–5 minutes, or 108 times.

As you practise, you might gently ask yourself:

What do I really want?
Is this desire helping me feel more alive, or is it making me feel smaller?
Can I meet this desire with honesty and kindness?

Then sit quietly for a few breaths before you finish.

A Thought for the Week

Desire is not the enemy. It is part of being human.

You’re not trying to squash desire or blindly follow it. Instead, try to listen, understand, and choose wisely.

May love be kind.
May desire be wise.
May joy return gently.