# Servant of the Senses *On how we have become servants of our senses instead of Kṛṣṇa* --- ### My Position Is Servant > So instead of becoming servant of Kṛṣṇa, I have become the servant of my senses. So my position as servant is there. Is it not? I am maintaining because I cannot change it. Suppose. Just like a woman. If a woman dresses like a man, does it mean that he has become a man? No. Woman is woman; man is man. Simply by changing dress we cannot do that. Similarly, our constitutional position is to serve. And to serve whom? Kṛṣṇa. That is our constitutional position. But falsely we are trying to become master. Therefore, instead of becoming master, I have become the servant of my senses. This is our position. — [[spoken/1976/760318sb.may|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.40, Māyāpur, March 18, 1976]] --- ### The Tongue Is My Master > So the master is sense. The *jihvā* is my master. He is asking, "Why don't you come to this restaurant?" "No, no, my belly is already filled up." "No, you must come." [laughter] You'll see. A man is coming from home after sumptuously eating, and as soon as he comes to the street, immediately he enters a restaurant and drinks a cup of tea and few biscuit or cake. Why? What is the necessity? You are already filled up in your belly, and still, again, immediately you are. "No, it is very palatable." So you are servant of your tongue. "Because it is palatable, although my belly is already filled up, so I must satisfy my tongue." So I am master. I'm not master; I'm servant of the tongue. — [[spoken/1976/760318sb.may|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.40, Māyāpur, March 18, 1976]] --- ### Misled by Māyā > It is a very good example. In the previous verse Prahlāda Mahārāja explained, *naitan manas tava kathāsu vikuṇṭha-nātha samprīyate durita-duṣṭam asādhu tīvram*. So *kṛṣṇa-kathā* is not palatable. This is *māyā*'s influence. So we cannot engage our senses for Kṛṣṇa. This is the disturbing condition of material world. Senses are there, I am there, and how the senses should be utilized, the subject matter is also there, but it is misled. This is called *māyā.* Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, *jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa*: we are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. — [[spoken/1976/760318sb.may|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.40, Māyāpur, March 18, 1976]] --- ### Cleansing the Dirty Mind > So it can be, I mean to say, avoided, or cleansed. *Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam*, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has assured. The whole process of education and advancement of civilization is how to cleanse the dirty mind. Why it is dirty? the lusty desire and greediness. So we should always remember this, that mind is the best friend and the worst enemy. If it remains *kāmāturam,* the worst enemy, and if it is Kṛṣṇa conscious, the best friend. So we have to control this mind. And that is very easy, as Ambarīṣa Mahārāja did: *sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane*. — [[spoken/1976/760317sb.may|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.39, Māyāpur, March 17, 1976]] --- ### Lusty Desires Lead to Lamentation > We are full of lusty desires, *kāma, kāmāturam,* and therefore you are distressed. Our distressed condition is due to lusty desires, *kāmāturam.* And the result is *harṣa-śokaḥ.* When we can fulfill our desires—"I am very much inclined to a woman or a man"—*kāmāturam,* lusty desires, if we can fulfill, then it is very nice, *harṣa:* "Oh, I am very successful." And if you cannot fulfill, then *śoka.* The two things are there. *Śoka,* there are so many things. We have got practical examples. The so-called loving affairs of man and woman ends in even murder. We have got experience. So *śokāturam.* The lusty desires means for the time being it may be very happy condition, but the result is *śoka.* It will end. Either illicit sex or legal sex, the end is *śoka, śoka,* lamentation. There are many examples, practical. — [[spoken/1976/760317sb.may|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.39, Māyāpur, March 17, 1976]] --- *5 verified verbatim quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda on being servant of the senses*