Prabhupada 0245 - Everyone is Trying to Satisfy His or Her Senses
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- London, August 15, 1973
So Kṛṣṇa is the master of the senses. The whole world is struggling for sense gratification. Here is the simple philosophy, truth, that "First of all let enjoy, let Kṛṣṇa enjoy. He is the master. Then we enjoy." Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā. The Īśopaniṣad says everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: (ISO 1) "Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa." This is the mistake. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, but we are thinking, "Everything belongs to me." This is illusion. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Ahaṁ mameti. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti. This is illusion. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body, and everything, whatever we find in this world, that is to be enjoyed by me." This is the mistake of civilization. The knowledge is: "Everything belongs to God. I can take only whatever He gives me, kindly allows." Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā. This is not Vaiṣṇava philosophy; this is the fact. Nobody is proprietor. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. Every... Kṛṣṇa says, "I am enjoyer. I am the proprietor." Sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). Mahā-īśvaram. Mahā means great. We can claim īśvaram, controller, but Kṛṣṇa is described as mahā-īśvaram "controller of the controller." That is Kṛṣṇa. Nobody is independently controller.
So therefore Kṛṣṇa is described, Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). And bhakti means to serve Hṛṣīkeśa by the hṛṣīka. Hṛṣīka means senses. Kṛṣṇa is the master of the senses, and therefore, whatever senses I have got, the master is Kṛṣṇa, proprietor is Kṛṣṇa. So when our senses are engaged in the satisfaction of the master of the senses, that is called bhakti. This is the definition of bhakti, devotional service. And when the senses are engaged for sense gratification, not for the master, that is called kāma. Kāma and prema. Prema means to love Kṛṣṇa and do everything for satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. That is prema, love. And kāma means everything done for the satisfaction of my senses. This is the difference. The sense is the medium. Either you do it, satisfy your senses, or you satisfy Kṛṣṇa's senses. But when you satisfy Kṛṣṇa's senses, you become perfect, and when you satisfy your senses, you become imperfect, illusioned. Because you cannot satisfy your senses. That is not possible without Kṛṣṇa. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170).
Therefore one has to purify the senses. At the present moment, everyone is trying to satisfy his senses. Ahaṁ mameti. Janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). Puṁsaḥ striyā maithunī-bhāvam etat. The whole material world is that... There are two living entities, male and female. The male is trying also, satisfy his senses, and the female is also trying to satisfy her senses. Here the so-called love means... There is no love. It cannot be love. Because the man and woman, nobody is trying to satisfy the other party's senses. Everyone is trying to satisfy his or her senses. A woman is loving a man for satisfying her senses, and the man is loving a woman for satisfying. Therefore, as soon as there is some little disturbance in the sense gratification, divorce. "I don't want it." Because the central point is personal sense gratification. But we can make a picture, show-bottle, "Oh, I love you so much. I love you so much." There is no love. It is all kāma, lust. In the material world, there cannot be possibility of love. It is not possible. The so-called is cheating, cheating only. "I love you. I love you because you are beautiful. It will satisfy my senses. Because you are young, it will satisfy my senses." This is the world. Material world means this. Puṁsaḥ striyā maithunī-bhāvam etat. The whole basic principle of this material world is sense gratification. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham (SB 7.9.45).