Sense-Control is the Key to Doing your Duty properly

To protect the good name of your family you must remain alert and aware of others' needs; this requires sense-control. If you do not have sense control, as was explained in a previous chapter, you become arrogant. One who is arrogant and devoid of sense-control is nothing but a demon. If you want to practice and protect dharma, you have to develop sense-control. For everything worthwhile in life, sense-control is very important. Krishna said to Arjuna, "Arjuna, be a wise man, and have complete control over your senses. Do not obey the fickle cravings of your senses. The senses must be under your control. You should not become a slave of your senses. Make them your slave. Be their master. It is only when you have mastered the senses that you will have earned the right to be close to the one who is the one who is the originator of all the senses and has complete dominion over them."

In the second chapter of the Gita all the qualities of a wise man have been explained. Of all these qualities, sense-control is one of the most important. In this chapter we have been exploring some different aspects of dharma, which can be seen, like the rays of the sun, to have seven colors or facets. As has been pointed out at the beginning, this sunlight of dharma contains the rays of truth, character, righteous behavior, sense control, penance, renunciation and nonviolence. You must make all of these your own.

Try to understand the meaning of these Gita teachings and practice them in your daily life. It is Swami's wish that when you have taken so much interest in studying these teachings that you should also evince the same degree of interest in practicing their meaning, and thereby acquire all the good qualities that are conveyed by them.