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Tongue should be used always for glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is our business with the tongue. And the tongue should not be allowed to eat anything except krsna-prasada. Then you become liberated, simply by controlling the tongue

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"tongue should be used always for glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is our business with the tongue. And the tongue should not be allowed to eat anything except krsna-prasada. Then you become liberated, simply by controlling the tongue"

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Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Tongue should be used always for glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is our business with the tongue. And the tongue should not be allowed to eat anything except kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Then you become liberated, simply by controlling the tongue. And if you allow the tongue to do anything, then it is very difficult.


So this is our position, that we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa by our mental speculation, limited sense. That is not possible. We have to engage - sevonmukhe hi jihvādau - beginning from jihvā, tongue. Tongue is the greatest enemy, and it is the greatest friend also. If you allow the tongue to do whatever it likes, smoking, drinking, eating meat, and this and that, then it is your greatest enemy. And if you do not allow the tongue, you can control the tongue, then you can control the, all the senses. Automatically.

tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati
tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre
kṛṣṇa baro doyāmoy koribāre jihvā jay
swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi
sei annāmṛta pāo rādhā-kṛṣṇa-guṇa gāo
preme ḍāko caitanya-nitāi
(Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura)

So tongue should be used always for glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is our business with the tongue. And the tongue should not be allowed to eat anything except kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Then you become liberated, simply by controlling the tongue. And if you allow the tongue to do anything, then it is very difficult. So the spiritual education, as Kṛṣṇa says, begins when you understand that I am not this body. And satisfying the senses is not my business, because I am not this body. If I am not this body, why shall I bother myself to satisfy the body only? Body means the senses. This is the first instruction.

So the karmīs, jnanīs, yogīs, they're all trying to satisfy the demands of the body. The karmīs are directly doing that. "Eat, drink, be merry, enjoy." That is their philosophy. Jnanī, he's also simply trying to understand that "I am not this body." Neti neti neti neti: "This is not, this is not, this is not, this is not, this is no..." The yogīs, they are also trying to come to the point of controlling the senses by bodily exercise, haṭha-yoga. So their center of activity is body. Center of activity is body. And our philosophy begins that, "You are not this body." You see? When they will pass their M.A. examination in studying this body, then they may be able to understand what is their function. But our philosophy begins that "You are not this body." Postgraduate study. "You are not this body." That is Kṛṣṇa's instruction. We have seen so many big, big politicians and scholars in India. They write comments on Bhagavad-gītā, but they write on this bodily concept of life. We have seen in our country the great leader, Mahātmā Gandhi, his photo is with Bhagavad-gītā. But what did he do throughout his whole life? The bodily concept: "I am Indian. I am Indian." Nationalism means that bodily concept of life. "I am Indian." "I am American." "I am Canadian." But we are not this body. Then were is the question of "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Canadian"? So they have no, this knowledge, the bodily concept of life, they're absorbed, and still they're authority of Bhagavad-gītā. Just see the fun. And Bhagavad-gītā teaches in the beginning "You are not this body." And they are in the bodily concept of life. Then just try to understand what is their position. What they can understand Bhagavad-gītā? If one is feeling that "I belong to this nation, I belong to this family, I belong to this community, I belong to this cult, I belong to this, I belong to this religion...," everything is bodily concept of life.