Indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā (BG 2.58). One who is practiced to control his senses . . . senses are not to be stopped. They are to be used at proper time, but not at the dictation of the senses. When one comes to that standard of life, that he is not dictated by the senses but he uses senses when it is properly required . . . senses are not to be stopped. That is not prescribed. That is not prescribed. Somebody says that sense control means to use . . . to stop this action of the senses. No. Senses, action of the senses, cannot be stopped. Simply it has to be purified. The action of the senses has to be purified. That is the whole process.
Because as spiritual living entity, we have got our spiritual senses. Those senses are now covered by this matter. We are not senseless. Just like your coat. Your coat is cut according to your hand. Because the coat, you will see, the coat has also got a hand. And why coat has got a hand? Because the user of the coat, he has got a hand. The coat is cut according to the hand of the user of the body. Similarly, this material body has been described in the Bhagavad-gītā as dress. So unless I have got body, wherefrom the dress comes? Dress has no meaning unless I have got body.
So senses are there, and those senses are required to be used; otherwise there is no meaning of senses. But that is spiritual. So senses have to be engaged in the spiritual activities. That is spiritual life. Spiritual life. The example, as I have already explained to you many times, just like Arjuna. He wanted to control his senses to refrain from fighting. When you fight, you require to engage your senses. He said that "I will not fight." That means he is controlling his senses from fighting. But after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he says: "Yes, I'll fight."
Just see. Before hearing Bhagavad-gītā, the position of Arjuna, that "I," "I will not fight," and after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, the position of "I," "Yes, I will fight." Two contradictory. Before hearing Bhagavad-gītā, the position of "I" was negative, and people may estimate this nonviolence attitude of Arjuna very nicely.
But after Bhagavad-gītā, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he says: "Yes." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73): "Yes, I shall fight." Now, do you mean to tell that he degraded? First of all he was nonviolent; he was not willing to fight. Now he has degraded after hearing Bhagavad-gītā? Is it the conclusion? No. He has improved. He has improved. Why he has improved? Because he has understood how to use the senses. That's all. In the beginning he did not know how to use the senses. Therefore he decided, "I shall not fight. I shall not fight." That is his material calculation.
So our material calculation is all nonsense. Our material calculation of our activities, they are all nonsense. They are all causes of our bondage. And when the same senses, they are engaged in the service of the Supreme, that is our freedom. Kāmaḥ kṛṣṇa-karmārpane (Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura).