In plain words
Embodiments of Prema!
In this world, conjured up out of what is seen, every living being that appears longs for the enjoyments of the senses and, wanting the pleasure of the senses, strives to live. But no one is able to recognise where this pleasure of the senses springs from. The birthplace of all the pleasures of the senses is sorrow itself! In what way can things born in sorrow give pleasure? “Anityam asukhaṃ loka mimaṃ prāpya bhajasvamām”: if man recognises this truth, he will surely reach a sacred state. Where have I come from? Where do I stand? Where am I going? If we recognise these three secrets, human life becomes fulfilled.
The senses are called ‘mātrās’. Mātrās means those that take measure. How so? ‘There is not enough salt in the dal’: so the tongue takes the measure and tells. ‘The man is very handsome, but his nose is small’: so the eye takes the measure and tells. If we do not use these senses in a measured way, we shall have to fall prey to many troubles and losses, and to diseases. We must recognise what purpose God gave each sense for, and use it accordingly, on the right path. Take the nose, for example. God gave it, bidding us sustain prāṇa through breathing in and breathing out. Drawing in the breath (So....), letting out the breath (Haṃ....): put these two together and it becomes So'haṃ (I myself am God). This very thing they called the Haṃsa Gāyatrī. God gave the nose, bidding us recognise this inner meaning. If we take impure snuff into the nose, which awakens so sacred a mantra, what is to become of the nose?
Then what was the tongue given for? Jayadeva said: “O sacred tongue! Tongue that knows taste! Tongue that knows honour and respect! Ceaselessly utter the Name of God, saying Govinda! Dāmodara! Mādhava!” With the tongue we must speak Satya; we must speak words that do not hurt others; we must eat sweet foods; we must not take intoxicating things. We must not eat meat. Drinking liquor, eating meat, smoking: these three go against humanness itself. Through them come ill health and ill fame as well.
The ears too we must use in the right way. We must hear only what ought to be heard. Forgetting what we ought to hear and believing what we ought not to hear, we are ruining our hearing. Sūradās said: “O God! Men, though they have ears, have become dullards and have not learned to listen to Your most enchanting song; though they have eyes, they have become blind and have not learned to behold Your auspicious form!” What use are eyes that do not see God? Why, in the first place, did God give eyes?