Gita 02.61 – Control, concentration, conquest – three stages in dealing with the senses

Bhagavad Gita 2.61 So, this is the first introduction of bhakti, of Krishna talking about himself as the object of devotion in the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is here answering Arjuna s question over how to control the senses. How does the enlightened control the senses? And he says, tani sarvani, sanyamya, sanyamya, restrained, tani sarvani refers to all those, that means, refers to the senses.

Restrain all the senses. Yuktaasita matparaha, yuktaasita. Yuktaasita means, yukta is connected, harmonized.

So, kimaasita was the question, which Arjuna had asked in 2.54. And the answer here is yuktaasita. Make them properly situated and situated where or how? Yuktaasita matparaha, situated on me, fixed on me. Yuktaasita matparaha.

And by this, what will happen? Vashyehi yashchen. Vashye means to control, to conquer. Yashchen, dhriyani, that person, he conquers his senses.

So, sanyama refers to control or restraint, that means, there is opposition, but one is controlling it, one is combating it. But here it is referring to Vashyehi. So, sanyamya is control, Vashyehi is conquest.

It's one stage higher. Tasyaprajna pratishthi, tasyaprasana is situated in intelligence, situated in firm intelligence. So, basically, this verse is describing three stages.

The first stage is control the senses. Then with the control senses, fix the consciousness on me, on Krishna. And once the consciousness is fixed on Krishna, then one will be able to conquer the senses.

So, the critical element, the difference between this and the previous verse is the addition of matparaha. So, till now, Krishna has been the instructor to Arjuna. After Arjuna's surrender in the second chapter, Krishna has started instructing him.

But as the instructor, Krishna has talked about how to control the senses. But now Krishna is revealing a different role for not just as the teacher of sense control, but as the object of the control senses. There can be many teachers of sense control.

There can be many people who may talk about how to control the senses. But Krishna is the person on whom the control senses are meant to be fixed. That means that it is Krishna who is the ultimate goal for us.

Yukta asita matparaha. And then there will be conquest of the senses. So, in connection with the previous verse, if you see, Krishna has said in the two verses ago in 59 that param drishtva nivartate, one will become steady in sense control, nivartate will happen when one gets the param drishtva.

And what that param drishtva is, is actually mentioned in this verse. It is matparaha, yukta asita matparaha. Fix the consciousness on me.

When that happens, one will succeed. So, now, if you go literally from the flow of the Bhagavad Gita, this section is primarily talked about the characteristics of self-realized. But prior to that, it has been talking about karma yoga.

So, in this section, this is the one-half of one-fourth of a verse. That means one-eighth of a verse is what is talking about bhakti. Matparaha.

So, actually, when we talk about control, you know, control in this world always has a purpose. For example, you know, when a person is driving a vehicle, you should keep the vehicle in control. Now, keeping the vehicle in control does not mean keeping the vehicle motionless.

Keeping it in control means keeping it on track. Similarly, if we say in sports, if, say, a batsman is in control. Now, in control does not mean that the batsman is motionless.

Rather, the batsman is playing well and knows how the ball is going to spin or seam and knows how to respond to that. So, to be in control or to keep in control doesn't necessarily mean to keep motionless. Even if we take a charioteer also, the charioteer keeps the horses under control.

That does not necessarily mean that the charioteer keeps the horses motionless. Rather, the charioteer keeps the horses on track. So, to keep the senses under control does not mean to keep them motionless.

Although that notion may come sometimes. Keeping the senses under control essentially means keeping the senses on track. On track means on the path to, on the path to a path of duty, on the path which will ultimately lead one to the pure state of spiritual consciousness, ultimately consciousness of Krishna.

So, that's why if we control the senses, it's only in the negative. Don't do this. Don't do this.

Don't do this. That sort of negative control cannot last for long. We need a positive dimension to the control and that is to engage the senses in a positive activity.

The most positive activity is devotional service to Krishna. Till now the Gita has not talked about Krishna or the soul's relationship with Krishna and that's why right now what is being talked about is not so much of using all the senses in devotional service, although that will come later in the Gita. Here what is talked about primarily is make Krishna the object of one's consciousness.

Fix the consciousness on Krishna because by fixing the consciousness on him, we move onwards in our spiritual journey and ultimately we attain him. So, what exactly happens when we fix our consciousness on Krishna? We all have experienced that the demands of the senses become especially strong when we do not have anything constructive to do. So, when the mind is driving us crazy, taking us here and there, that usually happens in the ideal mind is the devil's workshop.

So, basically, if the senses, if we are not fixed in some constructive work, then our default tendency for pleasure is in the lower direction. We all have an innate need for pleasure and where we seek pleasure, that will vary according to time, place, circumstances, that will vary according to individual nature because in the past most of us are engaged in self-gratification. So, our default tendency is to seek pleasure in sense gratification whenever we don't have any constructive activity to do.

So, now the way to counter the default urge to sense gratification is not just to keep saying no by brute force to it, but rather by saying yes to something better, something higher. And the best higher thing is Krishna. Krishna, when we fix the consciousness on him, Krishna is all-attractive, Krishna is all-wise, Krishna is all-powerful.

Krishna has six opulences. Krishna embodies and personifies the culmination of all our heart's attractions and that is why loving him, serving him brings the greatest happiness. And even if we don't have the realization of Krishna's beauty and even if we don't have love for Krishna at this stage, still fixing the consciousness on him brings happiness.

And that happiness enables us to move onwards in our journey towards him. Till ultimately, we attain him by realizing his love, his beauty and his sweetness. So, now even to fix the consciousness in Krishna, we need a certain level of sense control, no doubt.

But control is different from conquest. So, control means there is opposition. So, we all have some level of sense control and we use that basic level of sense control we have to fix the mind on Krishna.

And when we do that, then the senses become transformed, they become won over by Krishna's beauty. And then there is conquest. And that.