The Master of the Senses
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but ultimately the controller of the senses is Kṛṣṇa. Consider my hand, for example. I claim, “This is my hand. I can fight you with a good fist.” I am very much proud. But I am not the controller; the controller is Kṛṣṇa, because if He withdraws my hand’s power to act, the hand will be paralyzed. Although I claim, “It is my hand, and I shall use it,” when it is paralyzed I cannot do anything. Therefore, I should understand that although I possess this hand by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, I am not its controller. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
A sane man will think, “If this hand is ultimately controlled by Kṛṣṇa, then it is meant for Kṛṣṇa.” This is a commonsense understanding. I claim, “This is my hand, this is my leg, this is my ear.” Even a child will speak this way. If we ask a child, “What is this?” he will say, “It is my hand.” But regardless of what we claim, actually it is not our hand; it is given to us. Because I wanted to use my hand in so many ways, Kṛṣṇa has given it to me: “All right, take this hand and use it.” So it is a gift from Kṛṣṇa, and therefore a sane man always consciously thinks, “Whatever I have in my possession, beginning with this body and my senses, is actually not mine. I have been given all these possessions to use, and if everything ultimately belongs to Kṛṣṇa, why not use everything for Kṛṣṇa?” This is intelligence, and this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Everyone is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa ( mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ ), and therefore everyone’s senses are also Kṛṣṇa’s. When we use the senses for Kṛṣṇa’s service, we attain the perfection of life. Therefore,  hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate : when by our senses ( hṛṣīkeṇa ) we serve Hṛṣīkeśa, the real master of the senses, that service is called  bhakti . This is a very simple definition of  bhakti .  Hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ , not  hṛṣīka-sevanaṁ —service to the supreme master of the senses, not to the senses themselves. When we use our senses for sense gratification, we are in  māyā , illusion, but when we use our senses for the gratification of the master of the senses, that service is called  bhakti .
In this material world, everyone is generally using his senses for sense gratification. That is  māyā , illusion, and that is the cause of one’s bondage. But when one comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, when one becomes purified and understands that these senses are actually meant for satisfying Kṛṣṇa, then he is a liberated person ( mukta-puruṣa ).
īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate