FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.9.27

जिह्वैकतोऽमुमपकर्षति कर्हि तर्षा शिश्न‍ोऽन्यतस्त्वगुदरं श्रवणं कुतश्चित् । घ्राणोऽन्यतश्चपलद‍ृक् क्व‍ च कर्मशक्ति- र्बह्व्य: सपत्न्‍य इव गेहपतिं लुनन्ति ॥ २७ ॥
jihvaikato ’mum apakarṣati karhi tarṣā
[jihvaikato ’mum apakarshati karhi tarshaa]
śiśno ’nyatas tvag udaraṁ śravaṇaṁ kutaścit
[shishno ’nyatas tvag udaram shravanam kutashchit]
ghrāṇo ’nyataś capala-dṛk kva ca karma-śaktir
[ghraano ’nyatash chapala-drik kva cha karma-shaktir]
bahvyaḥ sapatnya iva geha-patiṁ lunanti
[bahvyah sapatnya iva geha-patim lunanti]
Word-for-word
jihvā — the tongue ekataḥ — on one side amum — the body or the conditioned soul who identifies with the body apakarṣati — drags away karhi — sometimes tarṣā — thirst śiśnaḥ — the genitals anyataḥ — on another side tvak — the sense of touch udaram — the belly śravaṇam — the ears kutaścit — from somewhere else ghrāṇaḥ — the sense of smell anyataḥ — from another side capala-dṛk — the fickle eyes kva ca — somewhere else karma-śaktiḥ — the other active organs and limbs of the body bahvyaḥ — many sa-patnyaḥ — co-wives iva — like geha-patim — the head of the household lunanti — pull in many directions.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
jihvaikato ’mum apakarṣati karhi tarṣā
jihvā
the tongue
ekataḥ
on one side
śiśno ’nyatas tvag udaraṁ śravaṇaṁ kutaścit
amum
the body or the conditioned soul who identifies with the body
ghrāṇo ’nyataś capala-dṛk kva ca karma-śaktir
apakarṣati
drags away
karhi
sometimes
tarṣā
thirst
śiśnaḥ
the genitals
bahvyaḥ sapatnya iva geha-patiṁ lunanti
anyataḥ
on another side
tvak
the sense of touch
udaram
the belly
śravaṇam
the ears
kutaścit
from somewhere else
ghrāṇaḥ
the sense of smell
anyataḥ
from another side
capala-dṛk
the fickle eyes
kva ca
somewhere else
karma-śaktiḥ
the other active organs and limbs of the body
bahvyaḥ
many
sa-patnyaḥ
co-wives
iva
like
geha-patim
the head of the household
lunanti
pull in many directions.
A man who has many wives is constantly harassed by them. He is responsible for their maintenance, and thus all the ladies constantly pull him in different directions, each struggling for her self-interest. Similarly, the material senses harass the conditioned soul, pulling him in many different directions at once. On one side the tongue is pulling him to arrange tasty food; then thirst drags him to get a suitable drink. Simultaneously the sex organs clamor for satisfaction, and the sense of touch demands soft, sensuous objects. The belly harasses him until it is filled, the ears demand to hear pleasing sounds, the sense of smell hankers for pleasant aromas, and the fickle eyes clamor for pleasing sights. Thus the senses, organs and limbs, all desiring satisfaction, pull the living entity in many directions.
Purport

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura mentions that after understanding this verse one should merely offer, without attachment, the bare necessities to the guru of one’s body. One should keep one’s body fit and working in the simplest possible way, and that is the sum and substance of service to this so-called guru. If one desires to faithfully serve the body, one should consider that the body pulls the consciousness of the conditioned soul in many ways at once, and thus for the servant of the body there is no possibility of understanding God or even of becoming peaceful.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The tongue pulls the attached person in one direction and thirst pulls him in another. The genital, skin, stomach, ear, nose and eye pull him in other directions. The action senses pull him apart just as many co-wives pull the husband apart. Therefore one should give the guru in the form of the body food for maintaining life only, and should do that without attachment. For the body, this is service to guru. “But one should feed the body with great faith.” Please hear the truth. The tongue pulls the person attached to his body in one direction for taste in order to degrade the person. Sometimes thirst pulls the person towards water. The genital pulls him for sex. The skin pulls him to touch. The action senses (karma-śaktiḥ) tear him apart.
Personal Guidance
The senses pull the conditioned soul in many directions like quarreling co-wives — serve the body's bare needs without attachment, and turn the heart to Kṛṣṇa.
Practical Applications
  • Notice the next time tongue, eyes, or ears each pull you toward a different gratification within a single hour, and name it aloud as the co-wives at work.
  • Eat, dress, and sleep today on the principle of bare necessity to the guru of your body — nothing more, nothing performative.
  • Refuse to negotiate with even one sense-demand today (a second helping, a scroll, a craving), and offer that small refusal to Kṛṣṇa.
Reflection Questions
  • Which of the co-wives — tongue, genitals, belly, ears, nose, eyes, touch — currently runs the household of my day, and what does her tyranny cost my sādhana?
  • Where am I pretending to 'serve the body' as guru while actually catering to it as master, and what would bare-necessity service look like in that exact area?
For Each Age Group
youth
  • Track for one day every time tongue (snacks), eyes (feeds), and ears (music/podcasts) each pull you in a different direction during a study block — see the co-wives in action.
  • Pick the one sense-input most wrecking your focus this term (likely the phone or late-night eating) and put it on bare-necessity rations for a week.
  • When peers pressure you toward another round of indulgence — food court, streaming, hookup culture — refuse once today and name to yourself that you are not the body's servant.
householder
  • In your next family budgeting or grocery decision, distinguish what the body actually needs from what the senses are lobbying for, and choose the bare-necessity option without announcing it.
  • Notice where you justify a fourth restaurant meal, a new gadget, or another comfort upgrade as 'for the family' when it is really one sense pulling — and quietly decline it this week.
  • Model for your children, in one visible way today, that the householder is not a slave to the tongue, the eyes, or the schedule of conveniences — eat simply, sleep on time, work for Kṛṣṇa.
senior
  • Survey the comforts you have accumulated — foods, programs, possessions, routines — and begin releasing one this month as practice in loosening the co-wives' grip before the body itself goes.
  • When the body's complaints grow louder with age, give it competent, bare-necessity care without identifying with its demands, and turn the freed attention to japa and hearing.
  • Tell a younger devotee, plainly, which sense ruled you longest and what finally broke its hold — leave that as legacy, not the stories of what you owned.
Common Pitfalls
  • Hearing this verse as a call to harsh suppression rather than to detached, minimal service of the body's real needs.
  • Picking one loud sense (the tongue, say) to discipline while quietly indulging the others, mistaking partial control for vairāgya.
  • Treating sense-control as the goal in itself instead of as clearing the noise so the consciousness can turn toward Kṛṣṇa.
Discussion Prompts
  • Share with your partner: which sense most often pulls you off your sādhana, and which one do you secretly enjoy being pulled by?
  • The verse compares the senses to wives demanding maintenance from one husband — does this image clarify or trouble you, and why?
  • Viśvanātha Cakravartī says give the body only its bare necessities — where do you and your partner draw that line differently in daily life?
Role Play

A young devotee tells a senior practitioner: "I've started chanting sixteen rounds, but I still spend two hours a day on food videos, an hour scrolling, and I cannot sleep without something playing. I feel I'm doing sādhana — am I?" The senior practitioner must respond from this verse, distinguishing service to the guru of the body from servitude to it, without shaming and without flattering.

Objections & Responses
  • This sounds like body-hatred. Modern psychology says we should honor our needs and listen to our bodies, not treat them as nagging wives.
    The verse does not hate the body — it places it correctly. Prabhupāda, following Viśvanātha Cakravartī, says serve the body as you would a guru: give it what it truly needs, simply and without attachment. What we call 'listening to the body' is usually listening to whichever sense shouts loudest, and the verse's whole point is that those shouts contradict each other. Honoring the body means feeding, resting, and using it for Kṛṣṇa's service — not negotiating endlessly with its competing demands.
  • If I cut sense-enjoyment to the bare minimum, I'll just become rigid, joyless, and probably rebound harder later. Isn't moderation wiser than this?
    Moderation that still treats sense-gratification as the goal only slows the pulling — it doesn't end it. The verse is not prescribing white-knuckled suppression; it is showing that as long as the senses are the householders of your life, peace is impossible because they pull in opposite directions at once. The joy you fear losing is the joy of being yanked. Real steadiness comes when consciousness turns from viṣaya to Kṛṣṇa — then the senses, given their bare maintenance, quiet down on their own.
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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