Receive the newsletter. Click here.
Talking is very important.
So vacamsi. If you can control your mind, then you can control your words. There are kaya, mana, vakya. Three things are... We have got this body, and we have got our mind, and we have got to talk. Talking is very important. You can talk nonsense all day and night, and you can talk about Krsna and chant Hare Krsna mantra, and the same thing, vibration. So if you talk nonsense, then you can go to hell. And if you talk about Krsna and the Hare Krsna mantra, chant, then you go back to home, back to Godhead. Just see how much this talking is important. Simply by talking. Vacamsi vaikuntha-gunanuvarnane. So it is a matter of control. This is con... Yoga means indriya-samyama, controlling the senses. That is called yoga, real purpose of yoga. Because our senses are just like venomous serpents. So many people, they fall down on account of these senses. They become victims of the senses. So yoga practice means the controlling the senses. This is the real purpose of yoga. There is certain mechanical process, that is called yoga practice. Therefore yoga practice is meant for a person who is too much in bodily concept of life. Otherwise, one who is convinced that "I am not this body," then where is the necessity of exercising the body? But it is meant for a person who is too much absorbed in bodily concept of life. For him, this yogic practice is recommended, that by mechanical practice of the different parts of the body, the air within the body, one can control the senses. And unless the senses are controlled... The whole thing is sense. Therefore consciousness, it depends on the senses, purifying the senses. Spirit soul is eternal, so his senses are eternal. You cannot stop the activities of his senses. That is not possible. Just like others. They think that "If we stop... " Just like Visvamitra Muni. He was a great yogi. He stopped the senses. He wanted to stop. He closed the eyes, "I'll not see a beautiful woman." But he failed as soon as he heard the tinkling sound of the bangles of the apsara, Menaka.
So our senses are so strong. If you stop this sense, the other sense is prepared to kill you. Because they are called enemies, they are manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg. 15.7]. We are struggling for existence with the mind and the senses. Otherwise it is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, "These living entities, they are My part and parcel." That means "They are as good as I am." Why they are rotting in this material world? Because on account of the mind and the senses. So yoga practice you have to control first of all the mind, and then you have to control the senses. That is perfection of yoga. So Ambarisa Maharaja, a great devotee, he controlled his mind, senses, in this way. The first thing is to... Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh. This yoga practice... Bhakti-yoga means this, not to try artificially to control the mind the senses. That will be failure. In most cases they are failure. In some cases they are perfect or successful, but in most cases they are failure, especially in this age, when people have no training, no..., simply extravagant, doing everywhere what he likes, no brahmacari system. Nothing is taught. Formerly (in) the Vedic civilization, the boys should be sent to Gurukula for practicing brahmacarya. There is no such question now. So the so-called practice of yoga is simply useless waste of time. They cannot do anything. It is not possible.
Therefore bhakti-yoga system is to engage the senses and the mind in Krsna's service. If your mind is engaged in Krsna's service, then there is very little scope for the mind being diverted from it. It diverts, but if you practice, then Krsna will help you.
Ref: Srila Prabhupada's Lecture, December 19, 1973, Los Angeles.