Bhagavad Gita 3.41

tasmāt tvam indriyāṇy ādau

niyamya bharatarṣabha

pāpmānaṁ prajahi hy enaṁ

jñāna-vijñāna-nāśanam

 

“Therefore, right in the beginning,

It is the senses that need disciplining.

Only then can you bring about the destruction,

Of the vicious enemy that devours knowledge and realization.”

 

My dear Lord, in the war against self-destructive desire, please give me the strength to enforce boundaries on my physical indulgence. Without such boundaries, trying to protect my consciousness is like trying to protect a country that has no clearly defined borders. Regulating the senses according to a carefully contemplated standard—be it scriptural, cultural, legal, or personal—gives me an objective parameter to understand how I am faring in this war—just as knowing where the border is enables the defending army to understand whether they are winning or losing the war. Help me, my Lord, to approach standards for self-discipline positively.

 Let me not dread them as things that make me feel guilty for not being able to live up to them; let me instead cherish them as valuable visible markers in what is largely an invisible war against an invisible enemy. Please, my Lord, bless me so that even when I feel agitated internally, I can still restrain myself from succumbing physically. Every physical indulgence creates a deeper mental impression, which is akin to a severe wound in a warrior. And each time physical indulgence is avoided, let me see that as a gain, equivalent  to a warrior dodging a deadly attack from a fierce enemy. Help me, my Lord, to become resourceful in defending my boundaries and grateful to you for every successful defense of my boundaries.

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03.41 Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.