And what are the shackles of this prison life?

yada samharate cayam
kurmo 'nganiva sarvasah
indriyanindriyarthe bhyas
tasya prajna pratisthita
[Bg. 9.58]

And what are the shackles of this prison life? The shackles of prison life... Just like in ordinary prison, prisoner.... Of course, I do not know what is the case here of prison life, but I have seen. Sometimes in New Delhi I was invited to give some good lessons to the prisoners. So I have seen so many prisoners. They were shackled with iron chains, iron chains. So we are also chained up here, and what is that chain? That is our sense enjoyment. Yes. We are chained in this material world by sense enjoyment. That's all. So if we want to cut our prison life, then the first symptom will be to minimize this sense enjoyment or to regulate the sense enjoyment. Here the Lord says that yada samharate cayam kurmo 'nganiva sarvasah. The example is given just like the tortoise. The tortoise can close up, wind up his senses as he likes. That means he becomes the master of the senses. He does not like to be the servant of the senses. So this, I mean to say, verse, we have already discussed. So indriyanindriyarthe bhyas tasya prajna pratisthita. One who is practiced to control his senses... Senses are not to be stopped. They are to be used at proper time, but not at the dictation of the senses. When one comes to that standard of life, that he is not dictated by the senses but he uses senses when it is properly required... Senses are not to be stopped. That is not prescribed. That is not prescribed. Somebody says that sense control means to use, to stop the action of the senses. No. Senses, action of the senses, cannot be stopped. Simply it has to be purified. The action of the senses has to be purified. That is the whole process. Because as spiritual living entity, we have got our spiritual senses. Those senses are now covered by this matter. We are not senseless. Just like your coat. Your coat is cut according to your hands. Because the coat, you will see, the coat has also got a hand. And why coat has got a hand? Because the user of the coat, he has got a hand. The coat is cut according to the hand of the user of the body. Similarly, this material body has been described in the Bhagavad-gita as dress. So unless I have got body, wherefrom the dress comes? Dress has no meaning unless I have got body.

So senses are there, and those senses are required to be used; otherwise there is no meaning of senses. But that is spiritual. So senses have to be engaged in the spiritual activities. That is spiritual life, spiritual life. The example, as I have already explained to you many times, just like Arjuna. He wanted to control his senses to refrain from fighting. When you fight, you require to engage your senses. He said that "I will not fight." That means he is controlling his senses from fighting. But after hearing Bhagavad-gita, he says, "Yes, I'll fight." Just see. Before hearing Bhagavad-gita, the position of Arjuna, that "I," "I will not fight," and after hearing Bhagavad-gita, the position of "I," "Yes, I will fight." Two contradictory. Before hearing Bhagavad-gita, the position of "I" was negative, and people may estimate this nonviolence attitude of Arjuna very nicely. But after Bhagavad-gita, after hearing Bhagavad-gita, he said, "Yes." Karisye vacanam tava: [Bg. 18.73] "Yes, I shall fight." Now, do you mean to tell that he degraded? First of all he was nonviolent. He was not willing to fight. Now he has degraded after hearing Bhagavad-gita? Is it..., is the conclusion? No. He has improved. He has improved. Why he has improved? Because he has understood how to use the senses. That's all. In the beginning he did not know how to use the senses. Therefore he decided, "I shall not fight. I shall not fight." That is his material calculation.

So our material calculation is all nonsense.. Our material calculation of our activities, they are all nonsense. They are all causes of our bondage. And when the same senses, they are engaged in the service of the Supreme, that is our freedom. Kamah krsna-karmarpane. Here the same thing is indirectly explained. Yada samharate cayam kurmo 'nganiva. One should know "When I shall properly use the senses." That is the sign of a person who is situated in pure consciousness. He knows properly, "How to use my senses." That is the difference by the instruction of Bhagavad-gita, we'll find, that in the beginning Arjuna did not know how to use his senses, and after hearing Bhagavad-gita, he learned it. He became a learned man, how to use his senses. And when he did not know how to use his senses, he said, "I shall not fight." And when he learned how to use senses, he said, "Yes, I'll fight." Now, what is the difference between "yes" and "no"? That means when our senses are engaged in the service of the supreme consciousness, then we are in pure consciousness situation. And when our senses are used to our whims, to our whims. Just like in the previous sloka it has been explained, prajahati yada kaman sarvan partha mano-gatan. We manufacture plans by our mental concoction. That should be given up. Yada prajahati kaman sarvan. All kinds of mental concoction, mental speculation, should be given up. That is the science. That is the beginning of our spiritual life, that "I shall not use my mind for my activities. I shall wait for the direction from the higher authority, supreme consciousness. Then I shall act."

Just like a soldier, he is simply awaiting the order of the commander. Then his activities are approved, "Oh, he is doing nicely. Yes." By the approval of the commander, he is killing as many persons, and by this killing art, he is being rewarded, "Oh, you are a good soldier." But that killing, if he does for his personal interest, even he kills one man, he is hanged -- by the same state. By the same state for which he is engaged in fighting, if he kills enemies, he is rewarded. He is awarded gold medal, recognition. And that very person, out of the war field, when he comes home, if he kills one man, then he is hanged. If he says that "The same killing I was doing in the war field, and same killing I have done. There I was killing hundreds and thousands of men. I was awarded gold medal. And here I have killed only one person. I am being hanged? What is this?" No. You have killed according to your own whims, and that is from the superior order. That is the difference. Similarly, if we do, if we act according to our mental speculation or mental whims, then we are bound up by the reaction. And if we practice ourself to be active under the direction of the Supreme, then we are free. This is the art. This is the whole art of spiritual life.

So we have to practice. We have to practice it in our everything. Because for so long we are in this material body, we have got so many material demands. We cannot stop the activities of the body. That is not possible. By force, if I stop all the activities of my body, that is not possible. That is not possible. The bodily activities will go on, but the bodily activities will be so performed that I'll not be bound up by the reaction. And that is called devotional service. That is called