Disc 136 Track 3. Swamiji says: If we can control what we see with the eyes and taste with the tongue, we can control all the senses. 

To listen to Swamiji speaking, please fully open the post and then click HERE.

This discussion follows on from audio clip 136 track 2. In which Swamiji was telling the story of Bilwa Mangal. The background to the story (of which there are several versions) is to be found HERE. 

The essence of the story, is that Bilwa Mangal took sannyas [monastic vows] and yet still had his old problem of lust surfacing, when he saw a beautiful young woman. In desperation and determination, he blinded himself so that he would no longer be able to see anything outside – and could focus on his inner journey – which was seeking divine realisation.

Following a brief recap of the story, Swamiji goes on to say that if we can control what we see with the eyes and taste with the tongue, we can control all of the senses. 

Says Swamiji, physical eyes are not necessary to see God. There is spiritual eyesight with which to see God. Lord Krishna said to Arjuna, ‘O Arjuna, you cannot see me with these two eyes. I have to give you gyan chakshu – the eyes of knowledge.’[Jñānacakṣus (ज्ञानचक्षुस्) refers to a “(pure) vision of knowledge”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.33].

Swamiji tells the story of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, wanting to renounce and take sannyas, and how he asked his Guru to test him for control over all his senses. Listen to Swamiji describing what happened, to prove that he did have the control.

Swamiji goes on to tell the deeply touching outcome of Bilwa Mangal’s self-inflicted blindness in older age. When in desperation he cries out to Lord Krishna, the Lord visits him in the form of a sweet-voiced little boy. The story plays out with the little boy becoming Bilwa’s guide to Vrindavan. He gave Bilwa a stick and together, the two made their slow way, with Bilwa singing bhajan and kirtan all along the route.

Once there the little boy told Bilwa that he now needed to leave. But Bilwa caught hold of the little boy’s hand, and in that instant, he had the internal vision of God. He saw Sri Vishnu Bhagavan himself, smiling at him. 

The boy forcibly removed his hand from Bilwa’s grip. But Bilwa said to the Lord in the form of that little boy, ‘You are now a prisoner of my heart, from which there is no escape.’

The free-to-read or download, 396-page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click HERE.

These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.