Our senses if untrained and uncontrolled behave like a serpent ever ready to bite us. We mostly suffer because we fail to control our senses but remain controlled by it. For e.g. if one does not control ones speech and is loudmouthed then sooner or later one will face the music. Or else, if a person always remains absorbed in satisfying ones taste buds then from morning to night one will be busy looking for palatable foodstuffs. The problem is that the more we walk the extra mile to act as per the dictum of our senses, our senses becomes more demanding. Soon we become slaves of our senses and start dancing to its tune. Senses are just like serpents; the more we feed milk to a snake the more it becomes poisonous, similarly the more we try to appease the senses the more violent it becomes. Bhagavad Gita too warns the danger of being controlled by the senses, “As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence.” (Bhagavad Gita 2.67)
So if we want peace in our life then we should start saying NO to our senses. Initially like a mad dog it will go berserk. But if we keep on starving it then slowly it will emaciate and we can then easily imprison them. Our senses will then become ours and instead of us being under its subjugation we can dictate terms to them. Once we become the master of our senses then our senses will become our best friend and would never trouble us.
