Control of senses and organs of action
Control of the senses and organs of action is of the most important factors for controlling the mind and dissolving desires and cravings for sense pleasures.
It is desire and passion that set the mind in motion, make it anxious, agitated and extroverted, and prevent us from maintaining peace of mind and experiencing the peace and bliss of our essence. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the dissolution of desires and craving for sensory pleasures of all kinds is the means to keep our mind calm, steady and focused and to experience the peace and bliss of our essence.
Among the means for the dissolution of desires and cravings is the control of the senses, the organs of action and the mind. Control of the senses and the organs of action helps us to control the mind, and control of the mind helps us to control the senses and the organs of action, so we should aim to control both.
Our true nature is experienced in the silence and stillness of the mind. So, the restless, distracted and agitated mind is the greatest obstacle to experiencing the peace and bliss of our true Self. To control the mind, it is of great importance to control the senses and organs of actions and at the same time over time to dissolve the desires, cravings and egoic tendencies that control our mind, senses and organs of actions.
To control the senses of perception means to prevent them from getting attached to the sensory objects thus giving rise to the expression of egoic tendencies and causing us to lose the calm and peace of mind and heart and to identify with them. It also means that we allow our senses to come in contact with all that is of a sattvic nature and prevent, as far as possible, them from coming in contact with that which is related to our ego´s cravings, passions, attachments and impressions of a rajasotamasic nature.
By not allowing the senses to come in contact with what our ego desires, we do not allow the ego to express and nourish itself. And on the other hand, by allowing sattvic impressions and spiritual impressions (which are also sattvic in nature) to enter our mind, we nourish the mind with sattva and impressions related to inner development and transformation grow in us. In case we cannot avoid contact with rajasic and tamasic impressions, we need to detach ourselves from the objects by deepening Self-awareness and withdrawing the senses from the objects; these two actions are, in fact, aspects of the same process. That is, the withdrawal of our senses from objects involves withdrawing our attention from objects and focusing it, as far as possible, on inner silence.
Concerning the organs of action, the most important thing is to control the organ of speech and the sexual organs.
Speech is one of the organs of action that keeps the mind agitated and extroverted and prevents us from experiencing the peace and bliss of the Self. That is why some of the great sages kept an intense silence and that is why they were called Munis (in Sanskrit), that is, silent sages. Sri Ramana Maharshi is one of them and also Sri Muniraj a devotee of Mahavatar Babaji.
Since speech is the externalization of thoughts, if we want to control our mind, we must also control our speech. The more we speak, the more our mind will be extroverted and distracted and the more difficult it will be to control it and keep it calm and centred in our Self. That is why we have to control our speech, keep silent as much as possible, speak when we need to, and avoid chattering. Speaking and especially chattering keeps our mind in constant activity, keeps us identified with our mind and ego and nourish egoic tendencies. So, controlling speech helps us a lot to control the mind but also all the other senses as well.
Moreover, by constantly talking we lose a lot of energy and, without energy, it is difficult to control the senses and the mind. As for any other activity, we also need energy to perform spiritual practice and control the mind and senses.
When we maintain silence in speech, we can more easily remain aware of the silence and peace of our true Self, be attentive to and observe what is going on in our mind, and effectively manage the selfish tendencies that manifest within us. Keeping silent help us keep the mind silent and this is the foundation for deep meditation and samadhi through which we can experience the peace and bliss of the divine Self. That is why, in spiritual teachings, control of speech is one of the basic disciplines to be practiced.
Another important organ of action is the sexual organ. When it is under the control of lasciviousness it causes the mind to be restless, agitated and extroverted. Lust for sexual pleasure is one of the greatest hindrances to spiritual life and to attaining Self-realization.
Control of sexual organs and dissolution of lasciviousness is of great importance to control and purify the mind, meditate profoundly and experience the peace and bliss of our divine Self. Sexual lust is one of the most potent tendencies that keeps the mind extroverted, attached to sensual sensory impressions, agitated, impatient, and the cause of other egoic tendencies such as pride, jealousy, worry, dissatisfaction, anger, violence and fear. It is the mother of all other sensory pleasures and also the main tendency that keeps us attached to the body, hence it is one of the main, if not the main, source of misery and suffering.
Control of sexual organs and dissolution of lasciviousness is also of great importance because conservation and conversion of sexual energy are fundamental and necessary for inner growth and transformation. In the sexual energy are found the most important subtle energies (Ojas, Tejas and higher Prana) which are the foundation of the inner development of the higher capacities of the mind and our spiritual transformation and higher states of consciousness.
We can control sexual organs through control of other senses such as vision, taste, touch and speech, control of thoughts and imagination and systematic work on eliminating
sexual lust.