Well hatha yoga helps, of course, but renunciation is tricky because if it is false, then there can be repercussions later, and the idea is to be steady on the path even if a little slower....
The idea is not to force your mind, but treat it like a dog that does not know any better.... gently carefully guide the mind with love..... even my Karmi father said that when he sees a beautiful woman walking down he street, he sees everything that goes along with it. :-)
So not to deny feelings but have a better understanding and a higher taste. We must gratify our senses in order to survive. No one tells a baby that they are in maya for crying. You see?
The general rules been elaborated by Srila Prabhupada in Nectar of instruction Verse 1 to 8. Better to start wilth the principles rather than details of rules and regulations.
There is given in Upanishads and certain holy texts an interesting analogy of a chariot. A chariot with 5 horses... with reigns, the charioteer, chariot itself, and there is passenger.
Passanger- soul
chariot- body
chairot driver- intelligence
Reigns- mind
Horses- senses.
Intelligence works thru the mind, and controls the senses. If the intelligence is not strong that means the chariot driver is not strong enough in holding the reigns( mind).. the senses go here and there ..one horse in one direction other in another direction. the reigns also going here n there and the chariot driver is disturbed and certainly you can understand what the soul ( the passenger) would be feeling sitting in such a chariot. So, when the senses are uncontrolled..
mind is controlled and intelligence uncontrolled.
This happens only when the intelligence is not taking any instructions from the SOUL that is the passenger sitting in the chariot. When the intelligence is nourished by some spiritual instructions then the intelligence becomes strong!
Then the intelligence controls the reigns ( MIND). Mind then controls the senses. and then we are very calm and peaceful, we experience a higher grade of happiness and bliss.
Hrishikesha is another name of Krishna....It means controller of Senses. Even in Mahabharata Lord Sri Krishna took the place of the charioteer who controls the senses of the body of Arjuna and takes control over his emotions and thus he could make Arjuna realize the importance of establishing Dharma as opposed to getting emotional and being afraid of fighting his own family members.
When you surrender your ego that you are the body and you are the one who is doing things.. surrender yourself to LORD
the LOrd takes control over the regins ( MIND) and controls your senses....
Body is refered to as Kshetra ( field of activities) and the Kshetragna ( the knower of the body) ==> BG CHAPTER 13. 1,2, 3 verses.
==>God is the knower of the fields of all souls, being situated as the Supreme Soul in the heart of all living beings. Further, God’s knowledge of each kṣhetra is perfect and complete. ( BG 13, text 3)
One who submits oneself to Lord, leaving the false ego that he is the doer, can only control the senses.
Just as Arjuna completely surrendered to Krishna, Krishna as the chariot driver controlled the body of Arjuna( Chariot) and brought the mind of Arjuna( reigns) under control and thereby controlled even the senses.
So, our duty is to surrender to Lord the controller of senses ( HRISHIKESHA) completely then only it is possible otherwise it is impossible!!!!!!!! No yoga nothing is possible to control the senses unless you submit to Lord.
How to submit..
Our senses are going after different objects right?
We have to give our senses and mind to Lord simple as that.
Ears- hearing only Krishna katha
eyes- seeing only the satchidananda vigraha of Lord.
Nose- Smelling the Tulasi leaves on the feet of lord.
tongue- tasting food offered to lord. only eating those things which are and can be offered to Lord.
Touch senses- touching cleaning serving lord and his devotees, serving guru and cows.
This is how we keep always the senses surrendered to Lord. when senses are surrendered, automatically mind is surrendered to Lord. Whatever topic you give to mind it keeps thinking about it that is all is its function.
If you give topics like entertainment material things it will keep busy in that way... thinking constantly about it
If you give mind KC topics it will keep busy thinking in that way.
Only Krishna bhakts have thought the history remained immune to senses and sense objects.
The answer to your question is given in Bhagawad GIta - 2.58 & 2.59. I will give the translation alone here:
2.58 - One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in Krishna Consciousness.
2.59 - The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.
Think about is prabhuji - if we were to control our senses like the way a tortoise withdraws its limbs within the sheel, why did God give us a human body and not a tortoise body? The answer to this is in the next shloka - one has to develop higher taste, then one will automatically give up the lower taste.
Right now, we have a lot of taste for material sense enjoyment and have not experienced spiritual enjoyment. THat is the reason we still hanker for material pleasures. We have to simply dovetail our desires with the desire of the lord. For ex: we all like to eat, many palatable dishes. So if we simply offer the food to Krishna before eating, we will be converting the material pleasure of eating into the spiritual activity of purifying our senses through prasadam.
This is not hatha yoga. This is very much bhakti yoga - to align ourselves to the desires of the lord, to do activities for the pleasure of the lord.
Is there any way other than Hat Yoga while living in material society.
Yes, There is Bhakti Yoga - Engaging mind and senses in the service of the lord. Please carefully read the following excerpt given by Srila Prabhupada
Bhakti-yoga is the purification of the senses. At the present moment in material existence the senses are always impure, being engaged in sense gratification. But by the practice of bhakti-yoga these senses can become purified, and in the purified state they come directly in contact with the Supreme Lord. In this material existence, I may be engaged in some service to some master, but I don’t really lovingly serve my master. I simply serve to get some money. And the master also is not in love; he takes service from me and pays me. So there is no question of love. But for spiritual life, one must be elevated to the pure stage of love. That stage of love can be achieved by practice of devotional service, performed with the present senses.
This love of God is now in a dormant state in everyone’s heart. And, there, love of God is manifested in different ways, but it is contaminated by material association. Now the heart has to be purified of the material association, and that dormant, natural love for Kṛṣṇa has to be revived. That is the whole process.
To practice the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga one should, under the guidance of an expert spiritual master, follow certain principles: one should rise early in the morning, take bath, enter the temple and offer prayers and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then collect flowers to offer to the Deity, cook foodstuffs to offer to the Deity, take prasādam,and so on. There are various rules and regulations which one should follow. And one should constantly hear Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from pure devotees. This practice can help anyone rise to the level of love of God, and then he is sure of his progress into the spiritual kingdom of God. This practice of bhakti-yoga, under the rules and regulations, with the direction of a spiritual master, will surely bring one to the stage of love of God. (Purport to BG 12.9)
How can we control desires and arousal of senses towards material pleasures?
In general we cannot. By practice of Bhakti yoga or engaging mind and senses in loving devotional service of Sri Krsna, the desires & senses will be purified and we will not come under control of lower desires. It is a gradual process for most practitioners. Here is an example how King Ambarisa engaged all his senses in Krsna's service
sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane karau harer mandira-mārjanādiṣu śrutiṁ cakārācyuta-sat-kathodaye
mukunda-liṅgālaya-darśane dṛśau tad-bhṛtya-gātra-sparśe ’ṅga-saṅgamam ghrāṇaṁ ca tat-pāda-saroja-saurabhe śrīmat-tulasyā rasanāṁ tad-arpite
pādau hareḥ kṣetra-padānusarpaṇe śiro hṛṣīkeśa-padābhivandane kāmaṁ ca dāsye na tu kāma-kāmyayā yathottama-śloka-janāśrayā ratiḥ
“King Ambarīṣa fixed his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, 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 tulasī 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.”
Replies
Well hatha yoga helps, of course, but renunciation is tricky because if it is false, then there can be repercussions later, and the idea is to be steady on the path even if a little slower....
The idea is not to force your mind, but treat it like a dog that does not know any better.... gently carefully guide the mind with love..... even my Karmi father said that when he sees a beautiful woman walking down he street, he sees everything that goes along with it. :-)
So not to deny feelings but have a better understanding and a higher taste. We must gratify our senses in order to survive. No one tells a baby that they are in maya for crying. You see?
Hare Krsna
The general rules been elaborated by Srila Prabhupada in Nectar of instruction Verse 1 to 8. Better to start wilth the principles rather than details of rules and regulations.
Hare Krsna
Hare Krishna,
There is given in Upanishads and certain holy texts an interesting analogy of a chariot. A chariot with 5 horses... with reigns, the charioteer, chariot itself, and there is passenger.
Passanger- soul
chariot- body
chairot driver- intelligence
Reigns- mind
Horses- senses.
Intelligence works thru the mind, and controls the senses. If the intelligence is not strong that means the chariot driver is not strong enough in holding the reigns( mind).. the senses go here and there ..one horse in one direction other in another direction. the reigns also going here n there and the chariot driver is disturbed and certainly you can understand what the soul ( the passenger) would be feeling sitting in such a chariot. So, when the senses are uncontrolled..
mind is controlled and intelligence uncontrolled.
This happens only when the intelligence is not taking any instructions from the SOUL that is the passenger sitting in the chariot. When the intelligence is nourished by some spiritual instructions then the intelligence becomes strong!
Then the intelligence controls the reigns ( MIND). Mind then controls the senses. and then we are very calm and peaceful, we experience a higher grade of happiness and bliss.
Hrishikesha is another name of Krishna....It means controller of Senses. Even in Mahabharata Lord Sri Krishna took the place of the charioteer who controls the senses of the body of Arjuna and takes control over his emotions and thus he could make Arjuna realize the importance of establishing Dharma as opposed to getting emotional and being afraid of fighting his own family members.
When you surrender your ego that you are the body and you are the one who is doing things.. surrender yourself to LORD
the LOrd takes control over the regins ( MIND) and controls your senses....
Body is refered to as Kshetra ( field of activities) and the Kshetragna ( the knower of the body) ==> BG CHAPTER 13. 1,2, 3 verses.
==>God is the knower of the fields of all souls, being situated as the Supreme Soul in the heart of all living beings. Further, God’s knowledge of each kṣhetra is perfect and complete. ( BG 13, text 3)
One who submits oneself to Lord, leaving the false ego that he is the doer, can only control the senses.
Just as Arjuna completely surrendered to Krishna, Krishna as the chariot driver controlled the body of Arjuna( Chariot) and brought the mind of Arjuna( reigns) under control and thereby controlled even the senses.
So, our duty is to surrender to Lord the controller of senses ( HRISHIKESHA) completely then only it is possible otherwise it is impossible!!!!!!!! No yoga nothing is possible to control the senses unless you submit to Lord.
How to submit..
Our senses are going after different objects right?
We have to give our senses and mind to Lord simple as that.
Ears- hearing only Krishna katha
eyes- seeing only the satchidananda vigraha of Lord.
Nose- Smelling the Tulasi leaves on the feet of lord.
tongue- tasting food offered to lord. only eating those things which are and can be offered to Lord.
Touch senses- touching cleaning serving lord and his devotees, serving guru and cows.
This is how we keep always the senses surrendered to Lord. when senses are surrendered, automatically mind is surrendered to Lord. Whatever topic you give to mind it keeps thinking about it that is all is its function.
If you give topics like entertainment material things it will keep busy in that way... thinking constantly about it
If you give mind KC topics it will keep busy thinking in that way.
Only Krishna bhakts have thought the history remained immune to senses and sense objects.
Example of this is Haridas Thakura.
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
The answer to your question is given in Bhagawad GIta - 2.58 & 2.59. I will give the translation alone here:
2.58 - One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in Krishna Consciousness.
2.59 - The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.
Think about is prabhuji - if we were to control our senses like the way a tortoise withdraws its limbs within the sheel, why did God give us a human body and not a tortoise body? The answer to this is in the next shloka - one has to develop higher taste, then one will automatically give up the lower taste.
Right now, we have a lot of taste for material sense enjoyment and have not experienced spiritual enjoyment. THat is the reason we still hanker for material pleasures. We have to simply dovetail our desires with the desire of the lord. For ex: we all like to eat, many palatable dishes. So if we simply offer the food to Krishna before eating, we will be converting the material pleasure of eating into the spiritual activity of purifying our senses through prasadam.
This is not hatha yoga. This is very much bhakti yoga - to align ourselves to the desires of the lord, to do activities for the pleasure of the lord.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
Hare Krsna
Is there any way other than Hat Yoga while living in material society.
Yes, There is Bhakti Yoga - Engaging mind and senses in the service of the lord. Please carefully read the following excerpt given by Srila Prabhupada
Bhakti-yoga is the purification of the senses. At the present moment in material existence the senses are always impure, being engaged in sense gratification. But by the practice of bhakti-yoga these senses can become purified, and in the purified state they come directly in contact with the Supreme Lord. In this material existence, I may be engaged in some service to some master, but I don’t really lovingly serve my master. I simply serve to get some money. And the master also is not in love; he takes service from me and pays me. So there is no question of love. But for spiritual life, one must be elevated to the pure stage of love. That stage of love can be achieved by practice of devotional service, performed with the present senses.
This love of God is now in a dormant state in everyone’s heart. And, there, love of God is manifested in different ways, but it is contaminated by material association. Now the heart has to be purified of the material association, and that dormant, natural love for Kṛṣṇa has to be revived. That is the whole process.
To practice the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga one should, under the guidance of an expert spiritual master, follow certain principles: one should rise early in the morning, take bath, enter the temple and offer prayers and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then collect flowers to offer to the Deity, cook foodstuffs to offer to the Deity, take prasādam,and so on. There are various rules and regulations which one should follow. And one should constantly hear Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from pure devotees. This practice can help anyone rise to the level of love of God, and then he is sure of his progress into the spiritual kingdom of God. This practice of bhakti-yoga, under the rules and regulations, with the direction of a spiritual master, will surely bring one to the stage of love of God. (Purport to BG 12.9)
How can we control desires and arousal of senses towards material pleasures?
In general we cannot. By practice of Bhakti yoga or engaging mind and senses in loving devotional service of Sri Krsna, the desires & senses will be purified and we will not come under control of lower desires. It is a gradual process for most practitioners. Here is an example how King Ambarisa engaged all his senses in Krsna's service
sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor
vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane
karau harer mandira-mārjanādiṣu
śrutiṁ cakārācyuta-sat-kathodaye
mukunda-liṅgālaya-darśane dṛśau
tad-bhṛtya-gātra-sparśe ’ṅga-saṅgamam
ghrāṇaṁ ca tat-pāda-saroja-saurabhe
śrīmat-tulasyā rasanāṁ tad-arpite
pādau hareḥ kṣetra-padānusarpaṇe
śiro hṛṣīkeśa-padābhivandane
kāmaṁ ca dāsye na tu kāma-kāmyayā
yathottama-śloka-janāśrayā ratiḥ
“King Ambarīṣa fixed his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, 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 tulasī 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.”
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.4.18–20)
Hare Krsna