Bhagavad-gita 4.26 Pradyumna: (leads chanting) srotradinindriyany anye samyamagnisu juhvati sabdadin visayan anya indriyagnisu juhvati Translation: “Some of them sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of the controlled mind, and others sacrifice the objects of the senses, such as sound, in the fire of sacrifice.” Prabhupada: Read the purport. Pradyumna: “The four division of human life, namely the brahmacari, the grhastha, the vanaprastha and sannyasi, are all meant to help men become perfect yogis, or transcendentalists. Since human life is not meant for our enjoying sense gratification like the animals, the four orders of human life are so arranged that one may become perfect in spiritual life. The brahmacaris, or students under the care of a bona fide spiritual master, control the mind by abstaining from sense gratification. They are referred to in this verse as sacrificing the hearing the process and the senses in the fire of the controlled mind. A brahmacari hears only words concerning Krsna consciousness. Hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacari engages fully in harer namanukirtanam—chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. He restrains himself from the vibrations of material sounds and his hearing is engaged in the transcendental sound vibration of Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. Similarly, the householders, who have some license for sense gratification, perform such acts with great restraint. Sex life, intoxication and meat-eating are general tendencies of human society, but a regulated householder does not indulge in unrestricted sex life and other sense gratification. Marriage on principles of religious life is therefore current in all civilized human society because that is the way for restricted sex life. This restricted unattached sex life is also a kind of yajna because the restricted householder sacrifices his general tendency towards sense gratification for higher transcendental life.” Prabhupada: srotradinindriyany anye samyamagnisu juhvati sabdadin visayan anya indriyagnisu juhvati So indriya-samyama, yoga. Yoga means indriya-samyama. Yoga indriya-samyamah. The yogic practice is recommended for persons who are too much in the bodily concept of life. Anyone…. Why anyone? Practically any person. Therefore this yogic practice was recommended for general population so that they can control the senses. Gradually, one has to take to this platform of indriya-samyama or sattva-guna. Rajo-guna, sattva-guna and tamo-guna. So one has to promote himself to the platform of sattva-guna. Generally, people are in the rajas-tamo-guna. I was explaining yesterday in the morning, tada rajas-tamo-bhavah kama-lobhadayas ca ye ceta etair anaviddham sthitam sattve prasidati [SB 1.2.19] Everyone is trying to be very peaceful and happy. That is possible when one is promoted to the platform of sattva-guna. The yoga practice means that. Yoga practice means by controlling the airs within the body… That will be explained. There are five kinds of air, vayu. When the airs are not controlled in old age, according to Ayurvedic system, it is called vayu-roga. The muscles become slackened, old man. Because the air control or air circulation is not proper. There are many medicines, many practice of yoga. So the real purpose is, yoga practice means, to control the senses. indriyani parany ahur indriyebhyah param manah manasas tu para buddhir yo buddheh paratas tu sah [Bg. 3.42] This is the study of the whole structure. Grossly, our body means the senses. We are, everyone, animal and less intelligent men, they are busy only for sense gratification. Indriyani parani… They think the sense gratification, “This is enjoyment, this is happiness.” But actually that is not happiness. Sukham atyantikam yat tad atindriyam. What is actual happiness, atyantikam, that is atindriya. Atindriya means beyond the senses. But because we have no such knowledge, because we are in the bodily concept of life, “I am this body,” so I am interested in the matter of gratifying me senses. Indriyani parany ahuh. And those who are little advance, they are in the enjoyment of the mind, mental speculation, philosophy, or theosophy. So many “sophies” are there. Somebody putting some theories, this theory, that theory, that theory. Mental speculation. They derives poetry, writing poetry, nice poetry. They are not on the gross platform of sense gratification but on the subtle platform of sense… Mind is also sense. Mind is also sense. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, bhumir apo ’nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca, bhinna prakrtir astadha: “These eight elements, they are also My prakrti, but bhinna, separated, separated prakrti.” Prakrti means subordinate to the purusa. As soon as the prakrti… Generally, we understand that the husband and wife…. Wife is called prakrti, and the husband is called purusa. So purusa means enjoyer, and prakrti means enjoyed. So similarly, when Krsna says, bhinna me prakrtir astadha, that all these elements, gross and subtle, earth, water, air, fire, and these are gross elements, and the mind, intelligence and ego, subtle elements…. Then Krsna says, apareyam: “These elements are inferior prakrti.” Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtim param. There is another prakrti. What is that? Jiva-bhutam maha-baho yayedam dharyate jagat. Jiva-bhuta, the living entity. The living entity is also prakrti. We are not purusa. But we forget this. Prakrti means to be used by the purusa. Therefore our position is, real position is, we should be used be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, purusa, Purusottama. This is our position. But artificially we are trying to become the purusa. That is maya. Instead of being utilized be the purusa, we are trying to become the purusa, to utilize the material nature. Yayedam dharyate jagat. The world is going on, the material world, because the living entities in the attitude of becoming purusa, they are trying to exploit the resources of this material nature. This is going on. (aside:) You sit down, you people, on the chair. So this is our material disease. And how we are trying to be master or enjoyer of this material world? By the senses, by the mind. Manah sasthani prakrti-sthani karsati. Manah…. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7] “The living entities,” Krsna says, “they are My part and parcel.” So instead of serving Krsna, they are trying to utilizing, they are trying to utilize the material nature for their sense gratification. This is called struggle for existence. Prakrti-sthani karsati. Karsati means hard struggle. Manah-sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg. 15.7] This is going on. And this karsati means struggling for existence. Because you cannot be happy by this artificial way of life. This is artificial way of life. Just like both of them have been described as prakrti. Bhinna me prakrtir astadha. And apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtim param. The para, it is prakrti. Suppose there are two prakrtis, two women. One has dressed an man and one has dressed as woman. But how they can enjoy? Because actually they are prakrtis. Simply by changing the dress, there is no possibility of enjoyment. Prakrti. Therefore it is simply mental concoction. Manah-sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg. 15.7]. This is going on. Therefore those who are too much engrossed in the bodily concept of life, for them, this yoga system… Dhyana, dharana, pranayama, asana, ity adi. Different methods. Yama-niyama. But that yoga process also requires samyama. Samyamagni, it is said. Samyamagnisu juhvati. This yoga practice means you have to control the senses, samyamagni, sacrifice. The spirit of enjoying spirit should be sacrificed tin the fire of samyama. That is required. Samyamagnisu juhvati sabdadin indriyagnisu juhvati. By controlling the senses, indriyagni… This is also very significant. Indriyagni. Indriyagni, that is described in the Narada-Pancaratra, hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Hrsika means indriya, and hrsikesa means Krsna. So when the indriyas, the senses will be engaged in the service of the master of the senses, that is indriyagnisu juhvati… You cannot control the senses simply by artificial means, by dhyana, dharana, pranayama, yama-niyama, asana, pratyahara. There are so many systems. Big, big yogis, they failed. Just like Visvamitra Muni. He was practicing yoga, that indriya-samyama. He was especially… Because he was king, so especially he was very sexually inclined. And the yoga process, he was trying to control the sex. But what was the result? The result was that Menaka, a society girl of the heaven, she appeared, and she was traveling there. There have been many instances like that. And tinkling of bangles, oh, immediately his yoga practice was broken. And he become attached by Menaka and there was birth of Sakuntala. There is a drama written by Kalidasa Kavi, “Sakuntala.” This is the subject matter, how a yogi failed to control his senses and was attached by a beautiful woman girl, and how Sakuntala, the beautiful girl was born. That is the subject matter. So this is sometime impossible. There are many, many instances. So this is artificial way of yoga system. But when actually, as it is recommended, sabdadin indriyany anya indriyagnisu juhvati. That indriyagnisu means the indriya of Krsna. When we satisfy the indriya, the senses of Krsna, then automatically our indriyas become satisfied, engaged. There is another verse written by Prabodhananda Sarasvati. He said, kaivalyam narakayate tridasa-pur akasa-puspayate durdantendriya-kala-sarpa-patali protkhata-damstrayate. Protkhata-damstrayate. Just like dentist, when there some pain in the teeth, they extract. That is called protkhata, extracted. So the indriyas have been compared with kala-sarpa, kala-sarpa, means a venomous snake. As soon as the kala-sarpa or snake touches in any part of your body, because the venomous teeth is there, death is there immediately. Therefore they’re called kala-sarpa. Kala means death. Kala-sarpa. Therefore we are so much afraid of a snake. So but if the kala-sarpa’s poison teeth is taken away, then it is no more, I mean, fearful. It is no more dangerous. Therefore Prabodhananda Sarasvati says that “By the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, our indriyas, the senses, which are compared with the kala-sarpa, may be kala-sarpa, but the poison teeth is extracted.” Durdantendriya-kala-sarpa-patali protkhata-damstrayate. So that is bhakti-yoga process. Indriyas cannot be, I mean to say, controlled unless you engage your indriyas in the service of the master of indriyas. That is called bhakti-yoga. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170] If you want to purify your indriyas, then you have to accept to be free from upadhi. At the present moment, because we are in bodily concept of life, I am thinking that “I belong to this family. So if I do not satisfy the family members… “I have to satisfy. This is my real position. Jivera ‘svarupa’ haya -—nitya-krsna-dasa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. My position is servant of Krsna. That is my constitutional position. So Krsna means to serve Krsna’s desire, what Krsna says. As Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam [Bg. 18.66]. He is demanding. But if we do not do that, that means we are not willing to serve Krsna. Then…. My position is serve, to serve. Then I have to serve in my designation. “I am the master of this family, I am the belong to this society, to this nation, to this, that.” so many. Grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair janasya moho ’yam. Illusory master you have to serve, because you have to serve. So these indriyas, unless they are purified by becoming without any designation… Just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, “I am not a brahmana, I am not a sannyasi, I am a ksatriya, I am not a brahmacari.” Because these are designation. Varnasrama-dharma, four varnas and four asramas. Of course, now we do not know even this designation. We are simply animals at the present moment. Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam. But human society means to divide the whole human society into these eight divisions, brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha. Then it is systematic. But you have to go above that. That systematic division of the society is also sense gratification. That is not real life. That is also sense gratification. But it is systematized. Just like I have several times said, the marriage is sense gratification, sex life. But somebody may say… They say that “Marriage is legalized prostitution.” It may be, but still, there is some control. Although it is called “legalized prostitution,” there is no difference between prostitution and married life, but there is some control. People become responsible. By responsible life, they can make advance. Irresponsible life will not help. Therefore loke vyavayamisa-madya-seva nitya hi jantoh. So our tendency for sense gratification is controlled. Therefore it is called license. Grhastha life means a license for sense gratification. But we must know that sense gratification means material life. It may be systematic or not systematic. Sense gratifications means material life. But our aim is to transcend this mate-rial life and come to the spiritual life, platform of spiritual life. That is required. So there are so many processes. So that is being discussed by Krsna. Here He is especially referring to the mystic yoga system, indriyagnisu juhvati, controlling the senses. So this controlling the senses… The simple method is that artificially if you want to practice yoga like Visvamitra Muni or Durvasa Muni, very great… There are many big, big stories about these munis who were big, big yogis. This Durvasa Muni traveled all over the universe and he went beyond the universe in the spiritual world. He saw Lord Visnu personally. Still, he was defeated. There are many stories. Ambarisa Maharaja. So these indriyas cannot be controlled. Durdantendriya-kala-sarpa-patali. But these indriyas cannot do any harm to you if you take the poison teeth of this deadly snake, poison teeth. Indriya-kala-sarpa-patali protkhata… What is that? What is the process of taking away the poison teeth? That is bhakti-yoga. That is bhakti-yoga. That means sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170], hrsikena—hrsikesa means indriya—hrsikesa-sevanam. You cannot control the senses unless you engage your senses in the service of the senses of the Lord. The Lord has got senses. He is also a living being like us. But less intelligent class, they cannot understand. They think that something must be opposite. No. The Vedic information is nityo nityanam: “The Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is also eternal.” That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita also. Bhagavan says that “Arjuna, you and Me and all these people who have gathered here, we are nitya. We were present in the past, and we are now in the battlefield, and when we give up this body, we shall again remain the same, individual.” That is explained in the second chapter. This individuality continues. There is no such information that all of them become one by amalgamation. That is not possible because in the Bhagavad-gita it…, mamaivamso jiva-bhutah jiva-loke sanatanah [Bg. 15.7]. Amsah, the particles of the Supreme, they are sanatanah. It is not that by chance the spirit, whole spirit, has been broken into pieces. No. That is not possible. Because in the Bhagavad-gita you will find acchedyo ’yam: “It cannot be broken into pieces.” Then how it became pieces? Therefore these piecemeal, the small particles of the original whole, they are sanatanah. It is not that by circumstance it has become small pieces. No. And when they amalgamate… Just like they give the example that the water, when it is put into the water, again it becomes one. But scientifically, they are molecules. They remain separate. Even the sunshine, they are simply combination of shining molecules. Similarly, we are also like that, shining spiritual molecules. So sanatanah, these particles are sanatanah. So they must have engagement. Because we small particles of the Supreme, we are also engaged… Krsna-bahirmukha hana bhoga vancha. We are engaged in material affairs. So our business is to finish this material affair or not to be attracted by the material affairs, but to be attracted by the spiritual affairs. That is required. Not that finishing. It cannot be finished. Therefore in the sastra [it] says, ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninas tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah: [SB 10.2.32] “Those who are thinking that ‘Now we have brahma-jnana, knowledge, and we have become one with Brahman, therefore we are now liberated,’ vimukta-maninah, that is not liberation.” The liberation is not there because tvayy asta-bhavat, because the senses are not yet engaged in the service of the Lord.” They do not know the Personality of… Tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah. They cannot be liberated. Why not? They have already become liberated? No. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adho ’nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah [SB 10.2.32]. Aruhya. They have undergone severe penances, austerities. That is right. And they have come to the param padam, brahmapada, but patanty adhah, because… anandamayo ’bhyasat. Everyone wants ananda, and part and parcel of ananda, Krsna, he wants ananda. So simply realization, aham brahmasmi, will not stay, will not stay. Because simply knowing “I am such and such,” simply knowing that “I am a millionaire,” or simply knowing that “I am a big man,” that will not help him. He must also have activities. Anandamayo ’bhyasat. Abhyasat means there must be activities. If you stop activities, there will be no ananda. Then you will again search out where is activities. And because you have no spiritual activities, you will come down to the material activities. So this artificial type of samyamagnisu juhvati, it may help you for the time being to stop the activities for the indriya, but that will not be permanently done. Therefore this process, that sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam… [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. When you become free from all designation… As Caitanya Mahaprabhu said—I was going to explain—that “I am not a brahmana, I am not a sudra, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya, I am not…” This is negation. Then what you are? Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah. There is activities. As soon as we accept dasa-dasanudasah, there must be activities. A dasa has got activities. So dasa, when these activities are there, then hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate [Cc. Madhya 19.170], that is called bhakti. If you adopt this means, to engage the senses in the service of the master of the senses… We possess some senses, but we are not master. Suppose I have got this touch sense, hand, I am working with, but actually I am not master. If the hand is paralyzed, you cannot work. So how you can be master of the senses? It is dependent on something else, the master of senses. When Krsna says, sarvatah pani-padam tat. Krsna has got hands and legs everywhere, or Brahman has got hands and legs… What is that hands and legs? Your hand, my hand, it is the Brahman’s hand, because you are part and parcel of Brahman. So now your hands and legs are engaged with upadhi. Everyone is working, “I am American,” “I am Indian,” “I am brahmana,” “I am sudra,” “I am this family,” “I am this,” “that,” so many… So you have to forget this, that “I don’t belong to this material world and so nice division,” either you call brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, or American, Indian. “No. Purely I am spirit soul, and my business is to serve Krsna.” Then you will be able to control your senses. Because senses want engagement. If you artificially stop, it will not stay. For the time being, it may be appearing, but it is not possible. You cannot be desireless. Sometimes we say that “We should be desireless.” That is not possible. The whole process should be purifying desire, purifying desire, mind. Mind is the source of desires. Therefore the bhakti process is first of all engage the mind. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh. If you engage your mind, always thinking of Krsna, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru… [Bg. 18.65]. This is the recommendation given by Krsna. So if you first of all engage your mind to the lotus feet of Krsna, then Krsna says you become first-class yogi. yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana sraddhavan bhajate yo mam sa me yuktatamo matah [Bg. 6.47] He is first-class yogi who is always engaged in thinking of Krsna’s lotus feet, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama… That is first-class yogi. Then you perfect your this yogic process. indriyagnisu juhvati. Indriyagnisu. In the indriya, in the senses of Krsna, in the fire of Krsna’s senses, when you engage, you cooperate with your indriya, that is your perfect life. Thank you very much. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Bombay, April 15, 1974