Guiding Light: Simple Ways To Have A Say Over Your Senses

There are two basic instincts in life—food and sex. These are not new; they have followed you across lifetimes, through every species. Even now, as a human being, you are still influenced by them. Your very birth is the result of them.

Sex, by itself, is not wrong. It is sacred. Life emerges from it. But when obsession clouds the mind, you lose the balance. In the East, sex has never been labelled sinful. It’s seen as part of life and not as something to be suppressed or to be glorified.

This obsession is strongest in adolescence, and it can be managed not through suppression but through awareness and discipline. Pranayama is a powerful aid here. Breath has the ability to regulate the mind and steer energy upward. Creativity also helps—music, dance, painting, poetry, or even simply observing nature.

Keep yourself engaged. When the mind is empty, it starts wandering. During the exam season, or while preparing for a performance or travel, you’ll notice the craving is absent. Activity keeps desire in check. And even if these tools don’t help, wait. Time will take care of it. The heat of the mind cools down with maturity.

But don’t be under the illusion that satisfying every craving will bring contentment. Look back. Have your fulfilled desires ever truly put you to rest? Or have they only created more desires? The truth is, the mind isn’t looking for limited joy. It is seeking the infinite.

Every sense, whether it is taste, touch, smell, sight or sound, is trying to take you back to your Self, the fountain of joy within. All pleasure comes from within, not from the object.

To have a say over your senses is great wealth. When the senses do not carry you away, when you can say yes or no to them at will, that is true mastery. Then, life becomes light, not a burden.

When you chase fun, misery runs behind you. But when you seek knowledge, life itself becomes a celebration.