yatato hy api kaunteya
puruṣasya vipaścitaḥ
indriyÄṇi pramÄthÄ«ni
haranti prasabhaṠmanaḥ
yatataḥ - while endeavoring; hi - certainly; api - in spite of; kaunteya - O son of KuntÄ«; puruá¹£asya - of a man; vipaÅ›citaḥ - full of discriminating knowledge; indriyÄṇi - the senses; pramÄthÄ«ni - agitating; haranti - throw; prasabham - by force; manaḥ - the mind.
There are many learned sages, philosophers and transcendentalists who try to conquer the senses, but in spite of their endeavors, even the greatest of them sometimes fall victim to material sense enjoyment due to the agitated mind. Even ViÅ›vÄmitra, a great sage and perfect yogÄ«, was misled by MenakÄ into sex enjoyment, although the yogÄ« was endeavoring for sense control with severe types of penance and yoga practice. And, of course, there are so many similar instances in the history of the world. Therefore, it is very difï¬cult to control the mind and senses without being fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. Without engaging the mind in Kṛṣṇa, one cannot cease such material engagements. A practical example is given by ÅšrÄ« YÄmunÄcÄrya, a great saint and devotee, who says:
yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pÄdÄravinde
nava-nava-rasa-dhÄmany udyataá¹ rantum ÄsÄ«t
tad-avadhi bata nÄrÄ«-saá¹…game smaryamÄne
bhavati mukha-vikÄraḥ suá¹£á¹hu niá¹£á¹hÄ«vanaá¹ ca
“Since my mind has been engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and I have been enjoying an ever new transcendental humor, whenever I think of sex life with a woman, my face at once turns from it, and I spit at the thought.â€
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is such a transcendentally nice thing that automatically material enjoyment becomes distasteful. It is as if a hungry man had satisï¬ed his hunger by a sufï¬cient quantity of nutritious eatables. MahÄrÄja AmbarÄ«á¹£a also conquered a great yogÄ«, DurvÄsÄ Muni, simply because his mind was engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padÄravindayor vacÄá¹si vaikuṇá¹ha-guṇÄnuvarṇane).