“While contemplating the objects of the senses’ a person develops attachment for them and from such attachment, lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory arises. And when memory is bewildered, one’s intelligent is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool of sense gratification”
Before one can control his senses, he must control his thoughts, and speech, which leads one to act in foolish ways. .What causes one to yield to lust even though one knows better? When one contemplates on the object of the sense – a beautiful girl or boy, for instance — he becomes attached to the idea of enjoying them. From this mental aspect, lust develops. The object giving mental pleasure must be enjoyed. If this desire is frustrated, anger arises. A person gets angry at whatever stand between him and such enjoyment. A boy might get angry at a rival boy friend, or at his girl friend or at his own lack of money. Anger always affects the thinking process. A person becomes deluded, thinking — my girl friend left me because I have no money. Her parents looked down on me. How frustrating life is, let me take some drugs and forget my problems. Such deluded thinking bewilders, and as one becomes more bewildered, he becomes more angry, more attached, more fruastrated and he turns to drugs, sex or some material objects for temporary relief from the pain caused by mental dissatisfaction. Of course this only makes the problem worse, and one falls deeper and deeper into the material whirlpool. Indeed one might even bring upon himself horrible deaths by drugs, AIDS etc. We should notice how this process begins —just by contemplating the objects of the senses, by having sense gratificatory fantasies – Sexual fantasies for example.
“Sex today is slimed over with the thought of pleasure”. (Edward Carpenter). When the name of an object is heard, a subtle form arises in the mind. Infact, the mind cannot conceive of a thing without mentally projecting it in subtle form. The mind tends to repeat and dwell on these desires, thoughts and erections, which it had found enjoyable. When thoughts arise in the mind, they do not end there but produce a series of related desires and thoughts, gaining momentum until they finally force one to act on them, even against his better judgment. Lusty thoughts and desires upset mental equilibrium and deprive us of the determination necessary for celibacy – sex control. Lusty thoughts causes reactions, and as sexual thoughts become more frequent and forceful, the sex glands automatically begins to secret fluids that sometimes pass as urine, or nocturnal emissions may occur. Semen can sometimes be lost by merely looking at sexually stimulating object. Moreover, thinking of sense enjoyment, which is a subtle form of sense gratification inevitably leads to the gross physical enactment of desires. Lusty thoughts precede lusty acts. Perfect sex control is observed mentally when we neither think of gratifying our sexual desires nor entertain it with sexual thought and fantasies. Regardless of how vigilant we are, what yogis call vasanas are bound to occur. A vasana is a wave on the lake of the mind. Vasanas agitate the mind and turn a beautiful placid lake into a stormy, dangerous one. Due to vasanas, we experience attraction, repulsion and attachment for the things of this world. When the mind contemplates an object, finds it attractive, and begin to desire it, a vasana is forged or present. As such desire intensifies, it turns into lust, and a strong determination to enjoy such object develops. The mind then attempts to experience that object through the senses by seeing it, feeling it, tasting it, smelling it, or hearing it. In the sexual act, all these senses are stimulated to the maximum to provoke organism. And it all began as a mere ripple on the lake of the mind. Even if a vasana is successfully resisted by someone, it will not necessarily go away, rather it might arise again and again in the mind and sometimes with redoubled force.
Unless the mind is properly trained or fixed in yoga, we cannot resist such constant agitation. We will finally yield and become a slave to such material and sensual desires. Even if we aspire to resist such desires, we must strive to control the unruly mind and impetuous senses, and thereby stand calm in the midst of the storms of lust that may arise from time to time. A person who is not disturbed by incessant flow of various desires that enters like river into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still, can alone achieve peace of mind, and not the man or person who strives to satisfy such desires. Just as thinking of sex can spoil one’s potency nor celibacy, so can talking about it. Of all the senses, the tongue in some ways, is the most difficult to control. It is always voracious. If the tonque is not eating, it is usually wagging from one end to another. People generally and compulsively talk, talk, talk. And after thinking nor talking about sex, the next step is to have it. Factually any idle talk is undesirable because it easily degenerates to a sex talk because the purpose of both is the same. The mind cannot exist in a vacuum at any moment. An idle mind is the devil workshop. There must be clean and filtered thoughts to occupy the mind, otherwise it will direct the senses to do this or that. It is impossible to do nothing, much less to think nothing. More so technology and wealth have given Americans in particular and the world at large a lot of free time, but what is being done with it. Ironically, high suicide rates are found in countries in which people have the most leisure time. Instead of using their time for spiritual advancement, people squander it in many self-destructive ways or at best frivolous ways. Precious hours are wasted on spectator sports, drinking, drug-taking, chit-chatting and perhaps worst of it all -watching Television indiscriminately. Watching so much violence certainly hardens a person or a child. How can a child be expected to develop into a compassionate adult with respect for life, if he is constantly being exposed to violence. Dr. Thomas Narut from the United States Naval Hospital at NATO Headquarters in Naples has reported the efficacy of showing violent films to soldiers who are not inclined to kill. After watching films in which the enemies are killed or maimed, the soldiers become desensitized to the idea of killing. And moreso, these soldiers were exposed to a mere fraction of the violence that the average child watches on television day in and day out. Studies on Television programming also reveal that sex is used to sell everything and the sex act most frequently portrayed is nothing but heterosexual intercourse mostly between unmarried people. There are many frequent portrayals of prostitute — sex than married sex. Presently sex is portrayed as a weapon to world power over others. And moreso Norman and Harris writes to say that: There will probably never be a return to the white dresses with pink slashes. Both girl and boy are dressing as sex symbols in their skintight jeans, even in prepuberty. Madison Avenue has created enticing erotic advertisement and commercials that sell sexuality as part of the total dress package. Soap operas, movies and television programs do not hesitate anymore to dramatize previously taboo subjects such as rape, abortion, incest, killings etc. Still educators are baffled over juvenile crime and sexual promiscuity. And it is not only the children who are affected – What about the adults who provide these lustful tool – television, but without any control including the various government levels, and yet various government cry wolves, on moral decadence – who now are the wolves and Quo Vadis?
Naturally, factually and gentlemanly, it is better to control the mind first and then the senses. Others think that it is better to control the senses by following a strict discipline then the mind will be calmed with practice. In either case, the bottom line is the same both the mind and senses must be controlled. But we should avoid getting the cart before the horse. Even if we forcibly succeed in restraining the senses from their objects, we are also in danger if the mind is always dwelling on sense objects. Hankering for sex can actually be more harmful than gross sense gratification because it habituates the mind to the idea of experiencing enjoyment in sex. It is therefore said that it is better to be in a brothel, wanting to be in a church than to be in achurch and wanting to be in a brothel. If one doesn’t control his mind by spiritual discipline, external renunciation alone will ultimately prove futile. It is always best when reforms begin with the head, and then there is less chance of things going wrong. When intelligence is established in higher spiritual knowledge, in the methods and reasons of renunciation in this material world, the mind is automatically and perfectly controlled. A controlled mind will then properly direct the turbulent senses.
“Our animal desires have hidden us from our true life. The real misery of man is that he is self obscured, lost in the midst of his own desires”. (Tolstoy) “As long as our desires are in conflict with the Universal Law, we will continue to suffer pain”. (Tagore) As to err is human, so to desire is human indeed. It is an essential nature of the soul. We can never be free from the bondage of desires until all material desires in us are eliminated. Sometimes people speak of such a state as nirvana —the cessation of all desires. Some claim to have attained this completely desireless state, but it is doubtful because desire is the symptom of being. Desires must be there. Not to desire at all is to be dead. But the quality of our desires can be changed from negative to positive desires. Majority of people think negative due to disappointment, lack of money, lack of trust, lack of job etc. Lord Buddha did not teach the extinction of all desire, but the extinction of material desires beginning from Ahimsa – non violence. And he once declared, I proclaim the annihilation of all material desire. I teach not the extinction of everything but the extinction of Lust. One need have his mortal dead to avoid the clutches of concupiscence. This Lord Buddha called for the blowing out of human passions, epitomized by lust. He did not advocate the blowing out of the soul, which is impossible. It is certainly not beneficial to blow out the desire for spiritual knowledge, nor the desire to lead a life dedicated to the spiritual advancement of others, nor the desire for self realization or God consciousness. These are all spiritual desires. Rather we must purge ourselves of desires for sensual pleasure, those desires resulting from human passions. Note that freedom from lust is truly the highest happiness. From lust all creatures run into distress as they are further tormented in all their spheres of existence and finally visit the cemetery again and again. As it is impossible to eradicate all desires, so we can certainly change the object of our desire. This means transforming material desires and lust into spiritual ones. Actually desires can be purified. This is the purpose of yoga practice or religion. Impure desires can also be replaced by pure ones, material desires can be replaced by spiritual. The transformation of desire accompanies the transformation of consciousness which motivates us to enjoy a higher pleasure and find happiness in it. When the spiritual mind takes control and redirects us to things spiritual, we will come to the realization of the true essence of life. Sex has a natural healthy role to play in human society. But when misused, it brings sufferings, divorce, unwanted pregnancy, which leads to unwanted progeny, disease and even death. We are pleasure seeking creatures. Everyone shuns pain and pursues pleasure. Pleasure in this world means gratifying the senses by contact with sense objects. To gratify the sense of smell, I smell a redolent of flower, to gratify hearing, I listen to music, to gratify sight, I look at something beautiful. To gratify taste, I eat and drink, to gratify touch, I feel an object with my hands. Because sex brings all these senses into play, it is the most intense form of sense indulgence. During sexual intercourse, all the sense are being excited and gratified. The object that gives us pleasure are varied, and apparently limitless. Although there is a kind of general agreement among people about what is pleasurable, it’s often said that one man’s pleasure is another’s pain. In the animal kingdom, pigs like stool, and cows eat grass. Swans like nectar, crows like garbage. Of all creatures, man experiences pleasure in the greatest variety of ways: Sensual, intellectual, and spiritual.
On the sensual level, people take pleasure in sex, eating, sleeping and intoxication. On the intellectual level, pleasure is found in ideas, books, theater, music, architecture etc. And on the spiritual level, pleasure is taken in devotion to God and renouncing sense gratification. Freud saw the life instinct propelled by the need to gratify hunger, thirst, and sex. It is commonly said that a man first thinks of satisfying his stomach, then his genitals. When a man is hungry and thirsty, he eats and drinks, and thereby satisfies his needs and reduces pain and tension. On the gross level, pleasure is simply the relief of pain.
“An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. Such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them”.(Bagavad Gita) Infact there is no victory more glorious than the mastery over our own mind and senses. When we are self controlled, we sleep peacefully and awake enthusiastically. We know happiness and contentment. Self- mastery means conquering the body and subduing the restless mind. Until we control the body and mind, we are subject to the slavery of cruel taskmasters such as lust and ignorance. He who rules his own mind and senses has no need for crown and scepter. He is already the Lord of himself and is a real superman. It is harder to control oneself than to rule the world. Indeed he who has conquered himself has conquered the entire world. To be self-controlled, we must be well established in renunciation. This means renouncing the mind’s endless and insatiable desire to know and experience new things. Temptations must be resisted, evil thought subdued, and baseless desires rejected. Only then will we have lasting peace and joy. Self control is discipline. It is restraint by oneself over oneself. It is the power to keep the mind and senses submissive to the direction of the intelligence and eternal soul. Self control yields all knowledge. It increases energy and infact purifies. A wonderful entourage follows in its path: charity, mildness, compassion, modesty, determination, liberty, liberality, contentment, truthfulness, benevolence and freedom from anger and malice. Finally, “Self control gives us the fortitude to withstand tribulation and endure great suffering in defense of what is right. By it, the mind becomes clear and discriminating.
In short, self-control open wide the great doors to material and spiritual peace and joy.
Moreso, controlling of the senses has to do with controlling our thoughts, words and actions. Just like it is said, look before you leap, in other words, never act at first thought, have a second thought. First thought is on the platform of the mind. You must always try to think further nor higher to attain a realistic action from your thoughts and words before action takes place. All these culminate by applying your sense of intuition which goes beyond bodily reciprocation. Most time we think on the bodily platform which in most case, leads into negative actions with a resultant effect of lamentation. Infact there will be more questions than answers — such as — why have I done this, why me, why most I act foolishly, I must resist this never to happen again. A drunker says like that, a thief says like that, a womaniser says like that, an adulterer says like that, an armed rubber says that, a gambler says like that, a cheater says like that, a learned man says like that, even a devil says like that. A lauzy man of God says like that. Ofcourse thoughts go before action.
All these are part and parcel of the transformation of man, just like the Bible warned, “Man know thyself’, because man was given the power to dominate. Whatever decision and example man takes as the head, the women and children will follow. And in all circumstances, “MAN KNOW THYSELF” God did not spear Adam who shared in the sin of EVE due to lack of proper guidance and was punished by God. Man do you know they position on earth by God? Yet to be proofed. Be on your guard always, understand your position, and always lead by restricted examples.
