The Master of the Senses 29
but ultimately the controller of the senses is Krsna. 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 Krsna,
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 al-
though I possess this hand by the grace of Krsna, I am not its controller.
This is Krsna consciousness.

A sane man will think, ‘‘If this hand is ultimately controlled by Krsna,
then it is meant for Krsna.’ 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, Krsna has
given it to me: ‘‘All right, take this hand and use it.”’ So it is a gift from
Krsna, and therefore a sane man always consciously thinks, ‘‘Whatever I
have in my possession, beginning with this body and my senses, is ac-
tually not mine. I have been given all these possessions to use, and if
everything ultimately belongs to Krsna, why not use everything for
Krsna?”’ This is intelligence, and this is Krsna consciousness.

Everyone is part and parcel of Krsna (mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-
bhiitah) , and therefore everyone’s senses are also Krsna’s. When we use
the senses for Krsna’s service, we attain the perfection of life. Therefore,
hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate: when by our senses (hrsikena)
we serve Hrsikesa, the real master of the senses, that service is called
bhakti. This is a very simple definition of bhakti. Hrsikesa-sevanam, not
hrsika-sevanam—service to the supreme master of the senses, not to the
senses themselves. When we use our senses for sense gratification, we
are in maya, 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 maya, illusion, and that is the cause of one’s bond-
age. But when one comes to Krsna consciousness, when one becomes
purified and understands that these senses are actually meant for satisfy-
ing Krsna, then he is a liberated person (mukta-purusa).

iha yasya harer dasye
karmana manasa gira

nikhilasv apy avasthasu
jivan-muktah sa ucyate
