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## The Defects of the Senses and Victory Over Them
**Fourth Light of Yoga Shastra, Verse 34, Meaning:**
It is said that "attachment to one thing destroys all five senses, then one who is deluded and attached to the objects of all five senses together, is burnt to ashes after death." (33)
Now, giving advice on how to achieve victory over the senses, it is said: "Therefore, the wise seeker should conquer the senses through the purification of the mind. Because without conquering the senses, the practice of Yama and Niyama is a futile bodily exertion for humans." (34)
**Explanation:**
The senses are of two types: material and mental. Skin, tongue, nose, eyes, and ears, which are formed from the material substance of pudgala, are material senses. And the desire for objects like touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound is the mental sense. One should renounce attachment to them and conquer them.
In this regard, the meaning of the inner verses is presented: A being defeated by the senses is troubled by many sorrows. Therefore, to be free from all sorrows, one should control the senses. Completely stopping the flow of the senses is not victory over them, but rather, the flow should be free from attachment and aversion; only then is it called victory over the senses. It is impossible to remove the contact of the senses with their objects; therefore, wise people renounce attachment and aversion that arise from those objects. The senses of a restrained yogi are always controlled in both ways. In beneficial restraint-yoga, the senses remain uncontrolled, and in harmful yogas like carelessness, they are controlled. That is, in the practice of Yama and Niyama, the senses remain engaged in the practice of restraint without being controlled (killed), but in objects, passions, carelessness, etc., the senses are controlled (killed). This is the secret of conquering the senses. Victory over the senses leads to liberation, and defeat by the senses leads to wandering in the world! Knowing the difference between the two, follow what seems beneficial. The entire foundation of karma-bondage lies in the pleasure and displeasure experienced from the soft touch of a cotton mattress, etc., and the hard touch of a stone, etc. Therefore, renounce pleasure and displeasure towards touch and become a conqueror of the sense of touch. Renounce the liking for delicious and palatable food and the dislike for tasteless food, and become a conqueror of the sense of taste. Renounce attachment and aversion towards fragrant substances and foul odors, knowing their nature and consequences, and conquer the sense of smell. Renounce joy and disgust towards beautiful forms that please the mind and eyes, and ugly forms that are the opposite, and become a conqueror of the sense of sight. Renounce attachment towards the sweet, ear-pleasing melodies of the veena and other instruments, and aversion towards the ugly, repulsive, ear-piercing, harsh, and insulting sounds of donkeys, camels, etc., and conquer the sense of hearing. There is no object in this world that is completely beautiful or completely ugly, which the senses have not experienced in all previous births. Why then do you not remain neutral towards it? You imagine ugliness in good things and goodness in bad things; then how will you free your senses from attachment and make them full of detachment? The same reason for which you say that there should be liking (attachment) towards something, the same reason can lead to disgust and aversion towards it! In reality, objects are neither good nor bad in themselves; it is the human perspective that makes them good or bad. Therefore, with a detached mind, renounce the attachment and aversion that are the flow of the objects of the senses, and desire to become a conqueror of the senses.
What is the way to conquer these invincible senses? It is explained: First, purity of mind is essential, and the practice of Yama and Niyama is also necessary. Serving the elderly and studying scriptures are also causes of victory over the senses. The extraordinary cause among all these is the purity of the mind. The other causes are not absolute and ultimate. Without purity of mind, even if Yama and Niyama, etc., are practiced, they cannot be causes of victory over the senses. This is stated in the same verse: "Without them, Yama and Niyama, etc." Yama refers to the five great vows, which are the root virtues, and Niyama refers to the purification of the body, the secrecy of the community, etc., which are the subsequent virtues. Serving the elderly, etc., is a bodily exertion, but without purity of mind, all this effort is futile. Like Marudevi, etc., many...