Control of Mind, Body and Senses

Today is the Melbourne Cup day. The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation”. So, today it is a public holiday day and a day of fun, excitement and of course horse betting.

Hearing of horses reminded me a beautiful verse from Srimad Bhagavatham, which talks about the control of Mind, body and senses. The Analogy of a Horses is beautifully explained as below...

Translation and Purport by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad.

"Srimad Bhagavatam 7.15.41

ahuh sariram ratham indriyani

hayan abhishun mana indriyesam

vartmani matra dhishanam ca sutam

sattvam brihad bandhuram isa-srishtam

TRANSLATION : Transcendentalists who are advanced in knowledge compare the body, which is made by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to a chariot. The senses are like the horses; the mind, the master of the senses, is like the reins; the objects of the senses are the destinations; intelligence is the chariot driver; and consciousness, which spreads throughout the body, is the cause of bondage in this material world.

PURPORT : For a bewildered person in the materialistic way of life, the body, the mind and the senses, which are engaged in sense gratification, are the cause of bondage to repeated birth, death, old age and disease. But for one who is advanced in spiritual knowledge, the same body, senses and mind are the cause of liberation. This is confirmed in the Katha Upanishad (1.3.3-4,9) as follows:

atmanam rathinam viddhi

sariram ratham eva ca

buddhim tu sarathim viddhi

manah pragraham eva ca

indriyani hayan ahur

vishayams teshu gocaran

so 'dhvanah param apnoti

tad vishnoh paramam padam

The soul is the occupant of the chariot of the body, of which the driver is the intelligence. The mind is the determination to reach the destination, the senses are the horses, and the sense objects are also included in that activity. Thus one can reach the destination, Vishnu, who is paramam padam, the supreme goal of life. In conditioned life the consciousness in the body is the cause of bondage, but the same consciousness, when transformed into Krishna consciousness, becomes the cause for one's returning home, back to Godhead.

The human body, therefore, may be used in two ways -- for going to the darkest regions of ignorance or for going forward, back home, back to Godhead. To go back to Godhead, the path is mahat-seva, to accept the self-realized spiritual master. Mahat-sevam dvaram ahur  vimukteh [SB 5.5.2]. For liberation, one should accept the direction of authorized devotees who can actually endow one with perfect knowledge. On the other hand, tamo-dvaram yoshitam sangi-sangam: if one wants to go to the darkest regions of material existence, one may continue to associate with persons who are attached to women (yoshitam sangi-sangam). The word yoshit means "woman." Persons who are too materialistic are attached to women. It is said, therefore, atmanam rathinam viddhi sariram ratham eva ca. The body is just like a chariot or car in which one may go anywhere. One may drive well, or else one may drive whimsically, in which case it is quite possible that he may have an accident and fall into a ditch. In other words, if one takes directions from the experienced spiritual master one can go back home, back to Godhead; otherwise, one may return to the cycle of birth and death. Therefore Krishna personally advises: asraddadhanah purusha dharmasyasya parantapa aprapya mam nivartante mrityu-samsara-vartmani -"Those who are not faithful on the path of devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of foes, but return to birth and death in this material world." (Bg. 9.3) The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, personally gives instructions on how one can return home, back to Godhead, but if one does not care to listen to His instructions, the result will be that one will never go back to Godhead, but will continue life in this miserable condition of repeated birth and death in material existence (mrityu-samsara- vartmani).

The advice of experienced transcendentalists, therefore, is that the body be fully engaged for achieving the ultimate goal of life (svartha-gatim). The real interest or goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead. To enable one to fulfill this purpose, there are so many Vedic literatures, including Vedanta-sutra, the Upanishads, Bhagavad-gita, Mahabharata and the Ramayana. One should take lessons from these Vedic literatures and learn how to practice nivritti-marga. Then one's life will be perfect. The body is important as long as it has consciousness. Without consciousness, the body is merely a lump of matter. Therefore, to return home, back to Godhead, one must change his consciousness from material consciousness to Krishna consciousness. One's consciousness is the cause of material bondage, but if this consciousness is purified by bhakti-yoga, one can then understand the falsity of his upadhi, his designations as Indian, American, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and so on. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. One must forget these designations and use this consciousness only for the service of Krishna. Therefore if one takes advantage of the Krishna consciousness movement, his life is certainly successful."