Sensual Life is Shameful Life
You are but repeating the same actions as yesterday, yielding but momentary happiness or delusion, and enjoyed things do recur again. Things seen yesterday do again present themselves today. Ornaments worn with exaltation yesterday, are again donned by you today. And yet, even intelligent per sons do not become disgusted with them and are not ashamed to enjoy them again and again in their gross delirium of worldliness. Fie on their intellect! Like ignorant children that taste again and again sweetmeats which impart sweetness for the time being, you are also afflicted, ignorant of the true path. Days, fortnights, months, years, and Yugas do cycle again and again as formerly, and nothing new crops up. Wealth which only makes hosts of thoughts whirl in the brain will not confer bliss on you. This wealth which the mind covets and is very ephemeral in its true nature is utterly useless like a flower-bud in a creeper growing on a high wall and encircled by a serpent. The Prana, which is like 3 drop of rain-water dripping from the end of a leaf turned overhead, flits out of the body at any time. This life is ephemeral like autumnal clouds or a gheeless lamp or the waves of the ocean. Life and death are two acts in the scene of the Juggler, Maya. The lives of those who have freed themselves from rebirth are the true ones and the noblest; but others lives are like those of old asses. There is nothing so baneful as this life which is utterly perishable in its nature and fleeting in the bestowal of sensual pleasures. The fire of desires has completely burnt you up. In the present state even a bath in Ambrosia will not cool you. You have spoiled yourself to such a pitiable extent. It is these over-vexing de sires that bring on the pain or rebirth, the heaviest and the most unbearable of all pains. This body which is composed of muscles, intestines, urine and faecal matter and is subject to changes, being at one time fat and at another time lean, shines in this mundane existence simply to undergo pains. What beauty, then, is there to be enjoyed in this body? The body of both rich and poor, tall and short, is made up of the same physical stuff. It is false air-bag, filled with rotten vegetable urine and faeces and various kinds of other impurities. These are worshipped by the worldly man. What a pity!
If lust which is the source of all enjoyments in this world ceases, then all worldly bondage, which has its substratum in the mind, will cease. Even the most virulent of poisons is no poison; but sensual objects are truly a deadly poison. The former defiles one body only, whereas the latter adulterates many bodies in successive rebirths. You are a slave of passions and desires, emotions and attractions. When are you going to rise up from this miserable state? Those persons, who, in spite of the knowledge of the non-existence of happiness. both in the past and in the present, in the baneful objects of the world, do yet entangle themselves in them with their thoughts clinging to them, deserve the appellation of an ass, if not a worse one. If you do not possess Viveka, if you do not try your best for salvation, if you spend your lifetime in eating, drinking and sleeping, you are a horizontal being only having to learn some lessons from these animals which possess far more self-restraint.
Sensual Life is Shameful Life – Self-Control, Purity, and Spiritual Awakening
Sensual Life is Shameful Life is a strong spiritual teaching that warns the seeker against becoming a slave of the senses. It does not mean that the body should be hated or natural life should be rejected. It means that a life ruled only by taste, touch, sight, sound, smell, pleasure, comfort, and craving becomes low, restless, and spiritually weak. When the senses control the mind, wisdom becomes covered.
Human birth is precious because it gives the power to think, discriminate, love, serve, meditate, and realize the higher truth. If this rare opportunity is spent only in eating, sleeping, enjoying, decorating the body, chasing pleasure, and seeking excitement, then the real purpose of life is forgotten. Such living may look attractive outwardly, but inwardly it leads to emptiness and bondage.
Sensual Life is Shameful Life because desire never gives final satisfaction. One pleasure is enjoyed, and another desire immediately rises. The mind thinks, “Just one more enjoyment will make me happy,” but the hunger continues. This endless chasing makes the person tired, dependent, and disturbed. The senses promise happiness, but often leave behind weakness, regret, and greater craving.
The body is temporary, and its pleasures are also temporary. Youth fades, strength declines, beauty disappears, and health changes. What seems sweet in the beginning may become bitter later. Overindulgence weakens discipline, damages clarity, and makes the mind dull. A wise person therefore does not allow temporary pleasure to destroy long-term peace.
Sensual Life is Shameful Life when it makes a person forget dignity, purity, and self-respect. Under the pressure of desire, people may lie, cheat, hurt others, break trust, waste money, damage relationships, and lose control of speech and action. The mind becomes restless because it is constantly searching for stimulation. Such a condition is not freedom; it is slavery.
Vedanta teaches that the real self is not the body or the restless mind. The true self is pure consciousness, peaceful, luminous, and free. But when a person identifies only with the body, they become attached to sense pleasure and fear its loss. This false identification creates bondage. Self-knowledge begins when the seeker understands that they are the witness of the senses, not their helpless servant.
Self-control is not repression. It is intelligent discipline. The senses are useful instruments, but they must be guided by discrimination. The tongue may want excess taste, the eyes may run after attractive forms, and the mind may seek constant entertainment. But the seeker must ask, “Will this lead me toward peace or deeper bondage?” This question protects the soul from downfall.
Sensual Life is Shameful Life also teaches the importance of purity. Purity of thought, speech, food, company, entertainment, and conduct gives strength to the mind. If the mind is constantly fed with impure impressions, it becomes agitated and weak. If it is nourished with prayer, study, meditation, noble company, and service, it becomes calm and powerful.
A disciplined life brings real joy. Moderation in food, simplicity in living, control of speech, regular meditation, and honest work create inner balance. Such joy is deeper than excitement. It does not depend on constant outer pleasure. It comes from a clean heart, a steady mind, and a meaningful life.
The company one keeps is very important. If a person stays among those who glorify indulgence, luxury, vulgarity, and careless enjoyment, the mind slowly adopts the same habits. Good company, on the other hand, inspires restraint, devotion, wisdom, and noble living. Satsang protects the seeker from falling into lower tendencies.
Sensual Life is Shameful Life when it blinds a person to the higher aim of existence. Life is not given merely for sense enjoyment. It is given for growth, service, love, knowledge, devotion, and liberation. The seeker should use the body as a temple of spiritual practice, not as an instrument of endless indulgence.
This teaching should not create hatred toward the world. It should create discrimination. Food, comfort, beauty, relationship, and enjoyment have their proper place when guided by dharma and moderation. The danger begins when pleasure becomes the ruler and wisdom becomes silent. A balanced seeker lives in the world but remains inwardly alert.
Prayer and meditation help control the senses. When the mind turns toward the Divine, lower cravings gradually lose their force. Mantra repetition purifies thought. Selfless service reduces ego. Study of scriptures gives clarity. Self-examination reveals hidden weakness. With steady effort, the seeker becomes stronger than old habits.
In the end, Sensual Life is Shameful Life is a call to rise from indulgence to purity, from weakness to discipline, and from craving to self-mastery. Sense pleasure is temporary, but inner peace is greater. The body is passing, but the self is eternal. Through self-control, discrimination, devotion, meditation, service, and self-knowledge, the seeker becomes free from lower desire and moves toward spiritual dignity and liberation.
Sense Life is a Terrible Bondage