Mūrtinam īkṣaṇa. Īkṣaṇa means seeing. Therefore, the Deities should be very nicely decorated; the temple should be very much cleansed, all-attractive. People may come and immediately become attracted with the Deity, īkṣaṇam, with devotion. That is the system of temple worship. Unclean temple worship or no decoration, no flower, this is useless. If you want to introduce temple worship, that should be properly done so that any man who comes immediately become attracted with the form, īkṣaṇam.
That facility should be given to the ordinary man. If he comes and he hears the chanting, the kīrtana, the bell sound, the karatāla sound, in this way gradually he becomes attracted. As we have seen, many students come in this way. They live and they become devotee. So these chances should be given. These chances should be given, according to śāstra, according to Prahlāda Mahārāja's instruction. Tat liṅga īkṣa arhaṇa-ādibhiḥ.
- hariḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
- bhagavān āsta īśvaraḥ
- iti bhūtāni manasā
- kāmais taiḥ sādhu mānayet
- (SB 7.7.32)
Another thing is harīḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu bhagavān ananta īśvaraḥ. So we should practice to see every man as the temple, every man, every living entity, because Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Antaryāmī, or Paramātmā, is residing with every living entity. So in higher status, a devotee sees everybody as temple of God, because the God is there. So this should be also practiced. As we respect a temple or a church, similarly, we should give respect to all living entities.
Harīḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu bhagavān ananta īśvaraḥ. Bhagavān ananta. If some foolish person says how God can be in every . . . within everybody? No, He is ananta, He is unlimited. He can be. That is His omnipotency.
Bhagavān ananta īśvaraḥ, iti bhūtāni manasā kāmais taiḥ sādhu mānayet. In this way, we should offer respect to everyone. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says, amāninā mānadena—give respect to everyone, and for yourself don't expect any respect. One may insult you, don't mind, but you give respect to others. Just see how bhakti-yoga is perfect.
Evaṁ nirjita-ṣaḍ-vargaiḥ kriyate bhaktir īśvare (SB 7.7.33). This practice will gradually enhance your devotion, at the same time your strong senses eager to enjoy this material world will be cut down. That is called breaking the poison teeth of the serpents, sense serpents. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate (Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5). For a devotee, there is no danger from the senses, because his senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. So he is the greatest yogī.
Yogī means who are trying to control the senses. That is by practice, by mechanical practice, that's all. But here there is no mechanical practice. Here it is factual activity how to control the senses. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīka means the senses. The senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. If one thing is already engaged, it cannot be . . . especially when one is engaged in the service of the Lord, he cannot be dragged to the service of māyā. Therefore, that is sense control.
Sense you cannot extinguish. The living entity, you must have your senses. Living means you have got your senses. But they should be purified. They are now engaged in the service of māyā, and now, by bhakti-yoga process you have to purify and engage the senses in the service of the Lord—the eyes and hands, the legs, the tongue, the ear, all the senses. The eyes, instead of seeing very beautiful woman, see Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī. That sense perception is there, but it is spiritualized. The tongue wants go to restaurant and eat meat and drink wine, but engage the tongue in eating prasādam, that is control. That's all.
So controlling, not that stop, lock up the tongue. Everything, every sense. Sex life. All right, if you can beget child to take care to raise him a Kṛṣṇa conscious, all right, have children. This is our sense control. Not artificially stopping them. No question of stopping. But utilize it for Kṛṣṇa's service. That is bhakti. That is bīja-nirharaṇam. You will never like to control over. Being controlled by the Supreme Lord, you will feel so much satisfaction that you will never like to control over—that is materialism.