To really control the senses

Posted by dinesh

If we have to fight an enemy on the outside, then that is one thing, but if the enemy is already within then you are already half defeated….and that's where we are.

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To really control the senses

via kksblog.com by hina on 2/24/12

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, Soho St Temple, London, England, 14th February 2012) Lecture: SB. 10.23.8

We have to build up strength:

'kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās
teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ,' (CC. Madhya 22.16)

The senses have no mercy….not good enough….they have no mercy! They will entangle us in the three fold miseries. Miseries of the body and the mind. Miseries caused by other living entities……and you cannot escape it. Therefore, if we do what the senses are saying, then one gets in trouble, and Srila Rupa Goswami also explains that:

'The senses are very ungrateful….very ungrateful.'

You bring them whatever they want….everything………………….the senses are pushing and what do we do?

'Oh we are obedient servants. Whatever you say….yes.'

You give the senses everything they want and what do you get?

'Is that all? Is that all you could bring? Bring more!!'

Imagine if you had a boss like that? Would you work for a boss like that ………………..It's just intolerable but when it comes to the senses, then oh no, we must (obediently for our whole life) just do whatever our senses dictate. And even at an old age we have to become a fool once again, because the senses are making us behave like a jumping dog into the hands of the opposite sex! – as the Bhagavatam describes. So therefore, bhakti yoga, like other forms of yoga offers a process by which we learn to control the senses through regulation.

But that process of regulation is only a temporary process, because the permanent way to really control the senses is through the higher taste….to fulfilment. The fulfilment in serving Krishna. So that is the only thing that will ever put us on the safe platform! That is the only time that we will be finally safe from maya! Because maya is everywhere…..maya is always there. We were talking about this the other day, that how maya is not only on the outside,

'Maya is also on the inside', which is Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's statement and that is the complication. If we have to fight an enemy on the outside, then that is one thing, but if the enemy is already within then you are already half defeated….and that's where we are.

Therefore it is difficult, but in association, in a good regulated process, and by taking shelter (on a daily basis) in the process of devotional service, we can be successful!