Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Bg 17.16

manaḥ-prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ
maunam ātma-vinigrahaḥ
bhāva-saṁśuddhir ity etat
tapo mānasam ucyate

Synonyms: 

manaḥ–prasādaḥ — satisfaction of the mind; saumyatvam — being without duplicity towards others; maunam — gravity; ātma — of the self; vinigrahaḥ — control; bhāva — of one’s nature; saṁśuddhiḥ — purification; iti — thus; etat — this; tapaḥ — austerity; mānasam — of the mind; ucyate — is said to be.

Translation: 

And satisfaction, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purification of one’s existence are the austerities of the mind.

manaḥ-prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ, manaḥ-prasādaḥ means satisfaction 

saumyatvam — being without duplicity towards others; Srila Prabhupada also translated it as simplicity which we will see.

Maunam, silence Srila Prabhupada translated as gravity.

ātma-vinigrahaḥ, self-control

bhāva-saṁśuddhir, Purification of existence

 tapo mānasam ucyate, these are austerity of the mind.

manaḥ-prasādaḥ, satisfaction:

Many times we feel I am not satisfied in the life even as devotees.

Satisfaction is not just emotion satisfaction is also a decision.

It not only a feeling which will come by its own it is also a choice a decision. 

E.g. My relatives having a bigger house and instead of thinking that I don’t have a bigger house I think that my goal in life is something higher and not just getting a bigger house I chose to be satisfied.

Purport:  Satisfaction of the mind can be obtained only by taking the mind away from thoughts of sense enjoyment. The more we think of sense enjoyment, the more the mind becomes dissatisfied.

In general our mind focuses on what we don’t have and hanker for that.

Most consumer products are not really necessities they are luxuries which by today’s condition may seem like necessity. 

manaḥ-prasādaḥ, Srila Prabhupada said to develop about manaḥ-prasādaḥ think about Sri Krishna’s pastimes. More we think about Krishna’s pastimes more our heart and mind becomes satisfied. 

saumyatvaṁ is softness, gentleness, suppleness, simplicity is also state of the mind, in general if we think harsh thoughts about other we get complex, don’t get into complexities, ultimately one of the complexity is when we trying to get into philosophical integrity of everything, we are not God and we cannot understand everything about everything we have to focus on what are the most important thing in my spiritual life, and focus on them and utilize them, 

maunam ātma-vinigrahaḥ

mauna literally means silence so if you wanted to talk about Mauna that is austerity of speech, but Krishna has put it here as austerity of mind, And Srila Prabhupada aptly translated it as gravity, so mauna is not just a state of speech it is a state of mind, sometimes people will use Mauna Vrata but then they will be writing on slate and on slate they write so much that they end up writing more than they would have spoken. It becomes more trouble for them and for other also, so it makes things more complex so does it serve the purpose? So mauna is not just physically shutting the mouth, it is said sometimes that people speak because they found sound more tolerable then silence, somehow to get away from mind as mind is speaking so much so to get away from mind I speak, you speak or turn the T.V. so really mauna is the state of mind, so when mind is peaceful that is what Srila Prabhupada talks about the gravity opposite of gravity is levity e.g. when occasion is serious like funeral and someone is laughing, it is so insensitive.

ātma-vinigrahaḥ, is self-control, again Krishna is putting that in the category of the mind, because all faults begins with the mind, contemplation on sense objects sources may be from outside or from inside e.g. flash back of past memory. After the source there is contemplation which if unchecked leads to degradation, so we don’t think about sense objects we focus on Krishna or service to Krishna. 

bhāva-saṁśuddhir ity etat, bhāva-saṁśuddhir, purification, again purification is primarily the austerity of the mind because impure and pure action begin with impure or pure thoughts. As soon as we realize that mind has gone on impure thoughts bring it back don’t allow mind to go on impure thoughts for long. 

 tapo mānasam ucyate, all these are austerities of the mind.

So this way Krishna gives understanding of how one can practice Krishna Consciousness. For devotees Maunam means not only silence but gravity and gravity comes by mediating on Krishna thinking about Krishna and talking about Krishna also, so Mauna can also be talking about Krishna.

End of transcription.