Reaching Life’s Perfection 287

engage not only one’s mind but one’s senses. Engage the senses in the
service of the master of the senses. These three Sanskrit words are very
significant. Hrsikesa means ‘‘the Lord of the senses.’’ So bhakti-yoga
means to serve with the senses the Lord of the senses. The Lord of the
senses is Krsna. We should always remember that we have our senses be-
cause we wanted to enjoy this material world, and therefore the Lord has
given us a particular set of senses for our enjoyment. The hog has a par-
ticular type of body and senses because he wanted to enjoy eating stool.
Similarly, a man has a particular type of body and senses because he
wanted to enjoy something else. We have a particular set of conditioned
senses with which to enjoy this material world, and this is what we have
to purify. Our senses are original, but now they are covered by material
desires. We have to cure ourselves and become free from such desires.
When one’s senses are no longer inclined toward material sense gratifica-
tion, one’s status is called pure devotion. ,

From this verse of the N@rada-paficaratra, we can understand that the
spirit soul has original senses. However small a body it may have entered,
the spisit soul is not impersonal, it has senses. Perhaps one may find a
bug on one’s book. It is so small, smaller than a pinpoint, but still it
moves; it has all the senses. The small bacteria also move, and they have
their senses. Originally, all living entities have senses. It is not that the
senses have developed under certain material conditions. The atheistic
theory is that under material conditions we have developed senses, that
in the spiritual condition there are no senses, and that we are impersonal.
By logic and reason, however, that cannot be so. A minute particle of
spiritual force, even if it is smaller in size than an atom, has its senses.
These senses, being covered by material elements, manifest themselves
in a perverted way. We have to purify the senses, and when the senses
are purified, we can engage them for the pleasure of the master of senses.
Krsna is the master and proprietor of the senses. Therefore, because we
are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, our senses are borrowed from
Him; they are on rental. The best thing is to use the senses for His
sense satisfaction, and not for our own. This is the process of pure Krsna
consciousness.

From the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Lord Caitanya gives an example of pure
devotion: it is said in the Bhdgavatam that Krsna is situated in everyone’s
heart. Therefore, just as rivers flow and their natural tendency is to reach
the sea, so aS soon as one hears the glories of the Lord, his soul is
at once attracted toward the Supreme Lord. This is the beginning of pure
devotional service. As soon as there is the chanting vibration, Hare
