Dedicated to my spiritual master His Divine Grace Abhaya Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami 'Srila Prabhupada'
Introduction
tani sarvani samyamya
yukta asita mat-parah
vase hi yasyendriyani
tasya prajna pratisthita
Bg 2.61
One who restrains his senses,
keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known
as a man of steady intelligence.
Control of senses and Yoga
That the highest conception of
yoga perfection is Krishna consciousness is clearly explained in this verse.
And unless one is Krishna conscious it is not at all possible to control the
senses. As cited above, the great sage Durvasa Muni picked a quarrel with
Maharaja Ambarisa, and Durvasa Muni unnecessarily became angry out of pride and
therefore could not check his senses. On the other hand, the king, although not
as powerful a yogi as the sage, but a devotee of the Lord, silently tolerated
all the sage's injustices and thereby emerged victorious. The king was able to
control his senses because of the following qualifications, as mentioned in the
Srimad-Bhagavatam (9.4.18-20):
sa vai manah Krishna-padaravindayor
vacamsi vaikuntha-gunanuvarnane
karau harer mandira-marjanadisu
srutim cakaracyuta-sat-kathodaye
mukunda-lingalaya-darsane drsau
tad-bhrtya-gatra-sparse
'nga-sangamam
ghranam ca
tat-pada-saroja-saurabhe
srimat-tulasya rasanam tad-arpite
padau hareh ksetra-padanusarpane
siro hrsikesa-padabhivandane
kamam ca dasye na tu kama-kamyaya
yathottama-sloka-janasraya ratih
"King Ambarisa fixed his
mind on the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, engaged his words in describing the
abode of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in
hearing the pastimes of the Lord, his eyes in seeing the form of the Lord, his
body in touching the body of the devotee, his nostrils in smelling the flavor
of the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, his tongue in tasting the
tulasi leaves offered to Him, his legs in traveling to the holy place where His
temple is situated, his head in offering obeisances unto the Lord, and his
desires in fulfilling the desires of the Lord... and all these qualifications
made him fit to become a mat-para devotee of the Lord."
The word mat-para is most
significant in this connection. How one can become mat-para is described in the
life of Maharaja Ambarisa. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, a great scholar and
acarya in the line of the mat-para, remarks, mad-bhakti-prabhavena
sarvendriya-vijaya-purvika svatma-drstih sulabheti bhavah. "The senses can
be completely controlled only by the strength of devotional service to Krishna."
Also, the example of fire is sometimes given: "As a blazing fire burns
everything within a room, Lord Visnu, situated in the heart of the yogi, burns
up all kinds of impurities." The Yoga-sutra also prescribes meditation on
Visnu, and not meditation on the void.
Conclusion
The so-called yogis who meditate on
something other than the Visnu form simply waste their time in a vain search
after some phantasmagoria.
We have to be Krishna conscious -- devoted to
the Personality of Godhead. This is the aim of the real yoga.
Ys in service of Srila Prabhupada
JANAKA DASA
(Dr
Jagadeesh TG)
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