How we can use material senses to get spiritual experience?

Hare Krishna Prabhus and Matajis,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

There was a nice question raised in our Sunday class: How can we use our material senses to get spiritual experience?

The answer lies in the process of bhakti-yoga. When we engage our senses in the service of the Lord — our eyes in seeing the Deity, our ears in hearing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and the Srimad Bhagavatam, our tongue in chanting and tasting prasadam, our hands in serving the Lord — these very material senses become spiritualized.

Srila Prabhupada explains that the senses are not bad in themselves. The problem is that they are currently engaged in material sense gratification. When the same senses are redirected toward Krishna, they become purified and one begins to experience spiritual bliss.

The Bhagavad-gita confirms this: 'By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.' (SB 1.2.7)

So the key is to engage all our senses — seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling — in the direct service of Krishna. This is the practical method given by Srila Prabhupada through the nine processes of devotional service.