The Need To Control The Senses🔗

Just like smoke veils the fire and you cannot see the fire clearly, just like when there is dust on the mirror and you cannot see your reflection clearly in the mirror, and just as you cannot see the embryo when it is covered by the placenta in the womb, we are not able to see our true nature of bliss because we are caught in base emotions like lust.

In the hymn Bhaja Govindam, Adi Shankaracharya, the enlightened sage from India says beautifully:

‘Do not be excited by looking at the breasts and navel of women. Do not be overcome with lust. Think to yourself again and again that these are of flesh and will perish with time.’

Lust is linked intimately to the survival of the species. Without lust, there can be no mutual attraction between genders, no reproduction, and no continuity of the human race. This basic survival instinct is lodged in our primal root energy center, the mūlādhāra cakra. All our survival instincts such as lust, anger and greed arise from this energy center. Eighty percent of our spiritual energy is locked in this energy center. When this cakra is blocked we behave out of instinct, like animals.

In the case of animals, their highest energy center is the mūlādhāra cakra. Almost all animals, except a few domestic animals, reach this as their highest level of energy. In humans, this cakra is the starting energy point. When this cakra is energized, unlocked, and the energy is released, we learn to live as we are truly meant to, in intelligence.

Once a person reaches physical or sexual maturity at adolescence, it is very difficult to control the effects of lust arising out of the mūlādhāra. One needs to be spiritually awakened before sexual maturity, by about the age of 12, so that the energy can flow upwards towards the sahasrāra or the crown cakra, rather than downwards as in the case of usual sexual development.

The mūlādhāra cakra is the seat of all fantasies, primary amongst them being sexual fantasies. These fantasies are the ones that Krishna says are like the dust on the mirror, completely clouding our judgment. We live by templates that we carve out in our mind based on these fantasies, and live towards fulfilling these fantasies, rather than accepting life as it is.

When the Hindu myths say that Menaka, the celestial nymph, came down to disturb the penance of the great sage Viswamitra, the metaphoric significance of that is that Viswamitra’s mūlādhāra was still blocked, giving rise to sexual fantasies. That is all. If it is true that celestial maidens came down to disturb meditating sages, thousands of people, including all of us here will start meditating! Then we too can meet Menaka!

Awareness in the present moment is the key to unlocking the mūlādhāra and dissolving lust. Only the present moment awareness brings you in touch with reality as it is and dissolves your fantasies.

In the Shiva Sutra, Shiva tells His consort Devi, 'In a marriage, four people coexist.'

Devi is shocked. She asks, 'There is just husband and wife. Why four?'

Shiva explains, 'There is the wife, and the husband's fantasy of the wife. There is the husband, and the wife's fantasy of the husband.'

As long as there are four in a marital bed, it will be an orgy, not a love affair. Fantasies need to disappear before awareness comes in. When you bring yourself into the present moment, fantasies of the past disappear. They are history, not valid anymore. Fears and speculations about the future vanish. They have not happened; they are not real. You are exposed to the reality of the present.

Only in the present moment can lust be transformed into love.

Krishna closes his dialogue with Arjuna in this chapter with these words, 'Be aware that you have a higher intelligence. Use that intelligence to control your senses and curb your lust, which is your most dangerous enemy on the path to awareness.'

Please note that Krishna does not say, 'Arjuna, come here, I shall help you. I shall help dissolve the lust in your body and mind. You can then be at peace.'

Arjuna started the dialogue in this chapter saying that he was confused. He was confused by Krishna's words in the previous chapter, during the dialogue about action and inaction. He was told that the body is perishable, the spirit lives on, and therefore there is no need to fear killing his elders and relatives! Krishna then tells him to do what he has to do without worrying about the result of his actions.

Arjuna is highly confused and he gives up. 'Tell me what to do,' he asks Krishna.

So, Krishna tells him what to do. Krishna tells Arjuna to lead a purposeless life, free from obsession with the final goal. Krishna tells Arjuna to be detached from the result of action. 'Action is our nature,' He says, 'not inaction. Act, work, but surrender the result of action to Me.'

Now, Krishna says clearly, 'Control your senses, be aware, live in the present moment and give up lust.' Lust here not only refers to sexual desire but also to all desires, to all desires related to the outer world. It is our sense of identity, the sense of possession that drives us to acquire and enjoy. The truth however, is that acquisition only leads to the desire for more acquisition, not to enjoyment and fulfillment. Desires are insatiable.

To be blissful we need to keep our inner space clean and empty. Only then can bliss fill that space. The outer space can be filled; that is not a contradiction. As long as the outer material space is filled without attachment, the inner space remains empty.

To make this happen, the senses have to be in control. They cannot be suppressed. Anything suppressed waits for an opportunity to explode. The mind and senses cannot be suppressed. However, they can be transformed. When we realize that life has no purpose, that the meaning of life is to enjoy the path, the journey, we learn to drop attachments to end results. We drop expectations. We move into the present moment. We become aware.

This is the whole essence of karma yoga. Drop your attachment to the goal, and live a happy life. Live life blissfully. You will achieve the Supreme.

Krishna says, ‘You will achieve the Supreme.’ You will achieve the eternal consciousness, nitya ānanda - eternal bliss.

So let us pray to the ultimate Divine, Parabrahma Krishna, to help us understand His message, to help us imbibe Him in our being. May He guide us. May He help us experience the eternal consciousness, the eternal bliss, nityānanda!

Q: Swamiji, you tell us to ‘give our all’ in love. But what if the love is not appreciated or returned?

If you are truly in love, you will ‘give your all’ naturally and not ask for anything in return.

Love is an unconditional outpouring. In love you don’t stop to ask yourself whether the other person deserves your love. In fact, there is no question at all of the other person’s worth. Love is a gift.

If you were to measure the other person’s worth and give an equal and exact measure of love in return, that would simply be a bargain. It would be business, not love.

In true love, this question of ‘Should I give my all?’ would not arise at all!

Now the issue of love being appreciated: Tell me, what is your reason for loving? Is love a performance for which you need to be applauded? It is enough that you love. What is the need to look for any further reward? To ask for a

return of love is to seek some kind of control over your beloved. You refuse the other person the freedom not to love you in return. This is a kind of possessiveness where you cage the other in the prison of your expectations. And as I keep repeating, love can never ever blossom in captivity.

Listen carefully: There are two kinds of love - love as a quantity, and love as a quality.

When love is seen as a quantity, it results in the kind of selfish little exchanges that most people make all their lives. You hold out a tightly wrapped parcel of love to your man or woman, and expect them to promptly return an equal-sized parcel to you. If your partner should choose to give her parcel to someone else, or even to just open it and spread the love around, you feel cheated and angry.

You are both bound to each other by a pact of reciprocation. You have to be ‘Made for each other’. Sooner or later this kind of arrangement leaves you cramped and frustrated, and in anger you withdraw your parcel and go off to find someone else to exchange it with. Or else your partner does that.

Now the other kind of love is love experienced as a quality of your very being. This kind of love is simply an outpouring of one’s joy and gratitude, just for being alive. It is the fragrance of joy, and it spreads itself around unconditionally. It does not need an object; it does not need a return gift.

This kind of love is like sunshine or rain; it gives itself unconditionally, and whomsoever stands within its circle can experience the warmth or the freshness without question. This love always enriches; it is the only kind of love that can be enjoyed without fear or guilt.

For love to become your quality, you must be willing to surrender yourself completely. Only in an egoless state can this love arise. This is not easy, but you can make a beginning. You will discover that simply through love and gratitude, you begin to let go of the ego, just a little. And as you let go, more and more love enters into that space.

Try practicing this in your relationships. There is no need to make a fuss about loving; don’t become serious in your love - just be totally sincere!

Thus ends the third chapter named Karma Yogaḥ of the Upaniṣad of Bhagavad Gita, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna.

CHAPTER 4

Logic can never lead you to Self-realization. Dissolution of logic will.

◆ Swamiji, you had said somewhere that rituals are not considered relevant now because we have lost the code to understand them. Is Krishna talking about the same thing when He says that the science has been lost?

◆ This verse ‘paritrānāya sādhūnām...’ is one of the most quoted from the Gita. If this were to be true, Krishna should be on this planet all the time and there should be no evil. However, this is not the case. Can you please explain again what this verse means?

◆ You say that we decide our rebirth, in terms of what we shall be born as, to whom, where etc. Why are so many desperately poor and sad people out there? Why would they ever want to be born that way? People say that is their karma, which to me seems more acceptable.

◆ Even though Krishna may not have meant the caste system to develop the way it has developed in India today, it has become an evil practice. How can one accept this? It needs to be eliminated. Is it not?

◆ Swamiji, you said that in the innermost energy layer, the nirvanic layer, God, you and I are all one, and that one realizes one’s divinity. In the LBP 2 course, you teach this as a part of one’s death process. Can one achieve this state while still alive?

◆ Many rich people may give with selfish intent, but those who benefit do not see the intent. They see just the benefit. If one insists on noble intentions while giving, very little may then be given. This will only affect those who need it most. What to do then?

◆ Even if you say that ignorance of our true divinity is the original sin, it still means that we are all sinners, as we have forgotten our true nature. So, religions that label all of us as sinners are in fact correct, aren’t they?

◆ How to find out whether somebody is enlightened or not?