What is kama

Sankappa raago purisassa kamo
Nethe kamayani chitrani loke

Sankappa raago purisassa kamo
Tittanthu chitrani thathewa loke
Atheththa deeraa vinayanthi chandan

This is the pali verse given in the kama nidana sutta in anguttara nikaya 3(as per my memory)

This states that kama means the conceptual liking that is in the mind of a person
And there is no kama in the varietyfilled world

Ans kama means the liking that exist in the mind and the effortful wise persons will distroy or stop the liking which is in the mind.

In the sutta lord budda explains that a desciple should know the pleasure of kama(assaada) and should know the bad effects resulting from kama(aadeenawa) and should also know how to get away or free from kama (nissaranaya).

And with regard to pleasure of kama lord budda explains that the pleasure is if you see a young beautiful girl at that moment of seeing a person get a pleasent feeling that is the pleasure. Then about the bad effects are given as many for example like that girl growing old and then dying then the corpse getting decayed all these are adeenawa. Then getting freed from kama is eliminating the liking.

So to eliminate the liking one needs to be mindful at the time of arising of the desire. And at that moment such person should see the aswada adeenawa and nissarana at that moment. In another sutta lord budda says that if one is mindful he is detached. Then if a person is not mindful such person will be attached.