ata eva sanais cittam

 prasaktam asatam pathi

bhakti-yogena tivrena

 viraktya ca nayed vasam

 

Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 

 

It is the duty of every conditioned soul to engage his polluted consciousness, which is now attached to material enjoyment, in very serious devotional service with detachment. Thus his mind and consciousness will be under full control.

 

Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 

 

The process of liberation is very nicely explained in this verse. The cause of one’s becoming conditioned by material nature is his thinking himself the enjoyer, the proprietor or the friend of all living entities. This false thinking is a result of contemplation on sense enjoyment. When one thinks that he is the best friend to his countrymen, to society or to humanity and he engages in various nationalistic, philanthropic and altruistic activities, all that is just so much concentration on sense gratification. The so-called national leader or humanist does not serve everyone; he serves his senses only. That is a fact. But the conditioned soul cannot understand this because he is bewildered by the spell of material nature. It is therefore recommended in this verse that one engage very seriously in the devotional service of the Lord. This means that one should not think that he is the proprietor, benefactor, friend or enjoyer. He should always be cognizant that the real enjoyer is Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; that is the basic principle of bhakti-yoga. One must be firmly convinced of these three principles: one should always think that Krsna is the proprietor, Krsna is the enjoyer and Krsna is the friend. Not only should he understand these principles himself, but he should try to convince others and propagate Krsna consciousness.

 

As soon as one engages in such serious devotional service of the Lord, naturally the propensity to falsely claim lordship over material nature disappears. That detachment is called vairagya. Instead of being absorbed in so-called material lordship, one engages in Krsna consciousness; that is control of consciousness. The yoga process necessitates controlling the senses. Yoga indriya-samyamah. Since the senses are always active, their activities should be engaged in devotional service — one cannot stop their activities. If one wants to artificially stop the activities of the senses, his attempt will be a failure. Even the great yogi Visvamitra, who was trying to control his senses by the yoga process, fell victim to the beauty of Menaka. There are many such instances. Unless one’s mind and consciousness are fully engaged in devotional service, there is always the opportunity for the mind to become occupied with desires for sense gratification.

 

One particular point mentioned in this verse is very significant. It is said here, prasaktam asatam pathi: the mind is always attracted by asat, the temporary, material existence. Because we have been associated with material nature since time immemorial, we have become accustomed to our attachment to this temporary material nature. The mind has to be fixed at the eternal lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh. One has to fix the mind at the lotus feet of Krsna; then everything will be very nice. Thus the seriousness of bhakti-yoga is stressed in this verse.