In plain words
Is it to look at everything that crosses our path? Is it to look at the film wall posters in the bazaar? No, no. When you walk on the road, if you go along looking at some wall poster, some car or rickshaw will come, knock into you and land you in an accident. So when you go along the road, your eyes must be on the road alone and not on other things.
Craving of the senses is the cause of bondage
First of all we must try to recognise the measures of the senses, the worth of the senses and the special nature of the senses. The deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the bee, giving in to sound, touch, form, taste and smell in turn, are bound and lose their lives. Deer fall under the sway of sound; the elephant, though its body is huge and its strength very great, gives in to touch. When moths see a fire they lack even the discernment that they will be burnt, and they come and fall into it; when a piece of meat is put on a hook and cast into the water, the fish are drawn by it and are caught on the hook. In this way each creature is bound by giving in to one of sound, touch, form, taste, smell and the rest. Man today is becoming bound to all five; he is falling under their sway; he is becoming their slave. That is why he is losing his freedom in life completely. The pleasure of the senses has come from sorrow itself. From sorrow only sorrow comes to us, not pleasure. If a clay pot is to become a pot of gold, how is that to be? Our very birth is from sorrow. Then how can pleasure come to us? Unable to recognise this truth, we go hankering, crying ‘pleasure, pleasure’. Where is pleasure? It is only in divinity. So true pleasure comes to us only when we take refuge in divinity.
Manas has ten wives!
There is another thing you must think about. The five organs of action and the five organs of knowledge: who is the master of these ten senses? Manas. These ten senses are like wives to Manas. Even with one wife, men go through many hardships in life. Uttānapāda, who had two wives, had to send his son Dhruva to the forest. King Daśaratha, who had three wives, sent Śrīman Nārāyaṇa Himself, in person, to the forest. Because they fell under the sway of their wives, they met with such hardships. Then what is to become of Manas, which has ten wives? The eye asks to be shown beautiful places; the tongue longs for tasty foods. Satisfy one, and another starts up. So no one can satisfy all these ten senses. Arjuna said, ‘Cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ Kṛṣṇā......’ Where did the restlessness of Manas come from? Its restlessness began from the very torments its ‘wives’ inflict on it. These very senses lead Manas astray. They do not let Manas stay steady for even a moment.
Man means one of great worth
We rejoice for the moment that the senses give us pleasure, but they also bring us to unbearable pains. Even man, with all his intelligence, fails to recognise this truth and gives in to the senses. For the sake of the passing pleasures of the senses he is ruining a human life of great worth.