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TEXT 58 yada samharate cayam
SYNONYMS  yada--when;
samharate--winds
up; ca--also; ayam--all these; kurmah--tortoise;
angani--limbs;
iva--like; sarvasah--altogether; indriyani--senses;
indriya-arthebhyah--from
the sense objects; tasya--his; prajna--consciousness;
pratisthita--fixed
up.
TRANSLATION One who is
able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its
limbs within the shell, is to be understood as truly situated in knowledge.
PURPORT The test of
a yogi, devotee, or self-realized soul is that he is able to control
the senses according to his plan. Most people, however, are servants of
the senses and are thus directed by the dictation of the senses. That is
the answer to the question as to how the yogi is situated. The senses
are compared to venomous serpents. They want to act very loosely and without
restriction. The yogi, or the devotee, must be very strong to control
the serpents--like a snake charmer. He never allows them to act independently.
There are many injunctions in the revealed scriptures; some of them are
do-not's, and some of them are do's. Unless one is able to follow the do's
and the do-not's, restricting oneself from sense enjoyment, it is not possible
to be firmly fixed in Krsna consciousness. The best example, set herein,
is the tortoise. The tortoise can at any moment wind up his senses and
exhibit them again at any time for particular purposes. Similarly, the
senses of the Krsna conscious persons are used only for some particular
purpose in the service of the Lord and are withdrawn otherwise. Keeping
the senses always in the service of the Lord is the example set by the
analogy of the tortoise, who keeps the senses within.
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