Welcome to the Purely Prabhupada YouTube channel. This video series is called “Reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all.” My name is Kamra devi dasi, and I am a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
This is the tenth video of the series. It is called, “Controlled by uncontrolled senses.” This presentation is foundationally philosophical, and we have to understand and apply some basic rudiments of philosophy in order to build real spiritual strength. Without a strong spiritual understanding, it is hard to stay on the path of devotion, because the tendency will be to become sentimental and then easily deterred if the going gets hard. But this concept of sense control is also essential for understanding how not to be used by a societal system that relies on us being weak in our ability to control our senses. And also, how one who is weak in sense control should not be entrusted with a position that affects others as he or she will be easily enticed.
Bhagavad-Gita translates as “Song of God.” It was spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, to His warrior friend Arjuna as they sat upon a chariot between the two great armies that were ready to fight the great Battle of Kuruksetra. Bhagavad-Gita is the most important chapter of the epic Mahabharata, or the greater history of India.
Srila Prabhupada gave us the unadulterated translation of Bhagavad-Gita with purports based on the teachings of previous spiritual teachers and his own realizations and observations of this world. Thus, his edition is titled “Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.” In his introduction to Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, we read, on page 11-
“When we are materially contaminated, we are called conditioned. False consciousness is exhibited under the impression that I am a product of material nature. This is called false ego. One who is absorbed in the thought of bodily conceptions cannot understand his situation. Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to liberate one from the bodily conception of life, and Arjuna put himself in this position in order to receive this information from the Lord. One must become free from the bodily conception of life; that is the preliminary activity for the transcendentalist. One who wants to become free, who wants to become liberated, must first of all learn that he is not this material body. Mukti or liberation means freedom from material consciousness. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also the definition of liberation is given: Mukti means liberation from the contaminated consciousness of this material world and situation in pure consciousness. All the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā are intended to awaken this pure consciousness, and therefore we find at the last stage of the Gītā’s instructions that Kṛṣṇa is asking Arjuna whether he is now in purified consciousness. Purified consciousness means acting in accordance with the instructions of the Lord. This is the whole sum and substance of purified consciousness. Consciousness is already there because we are part and parcel of the Lord, but for us there is the affinity of being affected by the inferior modes. But the Lord, being the Supreme, is never affected. That is the difference between the Supreme Lord and the conditioned souls.”
When one becomes aware that he is not the material body, he can then differentiate between activities that support the body in good health and well-being for spiritual development and those activities that only support the gratification of the senses of that organism which we are not. We have to take proper care of the body. We are not the body, but it must be maintained nicely for the service of God. It was given by God, and must be cared for in that mood. This would include a healthy diet, proper rest, cleanliness, sufficient bodily exercise, and so on. Activities that put excessive focus on the body, or result from excessive focus on the body, must be given up in favor of efforts that promote our coming back to our innate God consciousness, Krsna consciousness. These activities of sense gratification might include unnatural cosmetic pursuits, sexual activities meant simply for sense pleasure, mundane entertainment, intoxication, eating for the sake of gratifying the tongue, and so on.
Not only does the bodily concept of life, the illusion that we are this body, lead to the loss of the control of the senses and make us the slave of those senses, but it means that we are more easily controlled by others. We become controlled by the material energy and postpone our going back to the eternal and blissful kingdom of God. We become controlled by others as we succumb to the false belief that we are this lump of matter and become subservient to the addiction of gratifying the senses. By this addiction, we become easily controlled and manipulated. We give up our freedom to corrupt leaders and advertisers who take advantage of the degradation of society, the lack of sense control among the general populace, and offer so many promises of greater and greater sense gratification while tightening the control of the population.
We see that in nature, animals are conquered by their senses. Deer can be brought to a halt and then easily killed when they succumb to the sound of sweet music. Fish meet their demise by a fragrant, tasty morsel on a hook.
To control the senses is a strength, and in order to achieve sense control, first we must understand that we are not this body, and decide not to serve it more than required. We must learn what is our position in relation to the Supreme Lord, what is our goal in life, and then the determination can be there to control the senses. But sense control does not mean negation or to try to artificially create some void. We have senses, so what is the solution? They must be positively employed so that we can make spiritual progress. No sense control means animal life.
To control the sense of hearing, the ears can be engaged in hearing the Holy Names of the Lord either quietly in private meditation or as group chanting, and relishing the pastimes of God, Krsna, and the scriptures either written by God Himself or by His devotees in glorification of Him.
To control the tongue does not mean simply fasting. Fasting without spiritual purpose can create even more agitation to the sense of taste, although sometimes it must be used as a remedial measure in health. But control of the tongue means to taste only the foodstuffs that have first been offered with devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is discussed more in our video series presented at PurifyMyLife.com. Controlling the tongue also means to chant the Hare Krsna mahamantra and to glorify the Lord. The tongue is the most important sense to control, because by controlling the tongue by chanting the Lord’s names and glories, and taking only Krsna prasadam, foods first offered to Krsna, the urges of the belly and genitals will also become controlled. Without control of the tongue, there cannot be control of the other senses.
As we read at the start of this presentation, Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to liberate one from the bodily conception of life. To be set free of the bodily conception of life is the first step, the foundational principle, towards further spiritual progress. Bhagavad-gita As It Is, presented by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, is the only pure rendition of this great literature available in the world today. You can find other editions of Bhagavad-gita, but aside from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, all are tainted by impersonalism, voidism, and outright mental speculation. This edition of Bhagavad-Gita has inspired hearts all over the world with its profound truths, purely rendered. We have hard copies available at PurelyPrabhupada.com, and there is also a link to read this edition online.
