Bringing the Senses Under Control

We can either be the controller of our senses or we can be controlled by our senses. The controller of the senses is known as a goswami, a master of the senses. A godasa, servant of the senses, is that person who is being manipulated by his senses.

The senses have no intelligence of their own. Simply they are always itching for gratification. If our life is spent only in catering to our senses we will never find lasting peace and satisfaction. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna explains how the senses burn like fire and are never satisfied. No matter how much fuel we may feed to a fire it keeps on demanding more and more fuel. It never becomes satiated no matter how much fuel we feed to it. So the best program is to give our senses only as much as they require to keep body and soul together. The remaining portion of our energy should be absorbed in hearing, chanting, and remembering the glorious name, fame, pastimes, entourage, and paraphernalia of Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme All-Attractive Personality of Godhead. This will bring us true, lasting happiness because it will reconnect us with our actual selves.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Is Desire for Profit Material?

In a recent "Thought for the Day" you have mentioned "Desire for profit." What does it mean? Today a shopkeeper sells his product for profit. Today people save their extra money in the share market, which is based on profit. I am donating a small portion to support your spreading of Krishna consciousness. And for my personnel emergencies I am saving some money. Is saving money for future needs a material attachment?

I am interested in making this birth my last birth. So kindly enlighten me.

A fallen soul,

Your student

Answer: Who is the Profit For?

I very much appreciate how you have repeatedly contributed monetarily for assisting our mission of spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world. Lord Krishna certainly lesses you for this.

The desire for profit is in itself neither good nor bad. It is simply a matter of how one utilizes that profit which determines the result. If one accumulates profit and spends it on material sense gratification, he is paving his royal road to hell. But if he is accumulates profit for the Lord's service, his desire for profit is transcendental. In this connection a Krishna conscious businessman can aspire to be the wealthiest businessman in the entire world for the sake of engaging as much as possible of the world's wealth in the service of the Lord.

therefore one should live simply and not extravagantly so while covering his basic comforts and saving for future needs, such as retirement, he can give as much financial support as possible for the re-spiritualization of the world society. If one utilizes profit in this way, he is transcendentally situated. His activities of acquiring profit will not entangle him in the cycle of birth and death. And if he focuses his life exclusively on serving the Lord his perfection of going back home, back to Godhead is guaranteed.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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