Photo: theawakenedstate.net
Most of us are never aware of our true being and spend our entire lives identifying ourselves with temporary and false things like body, mind, ego, car, house or job we have. The body and the mind that we have are a part of the "prakriti" or the "material nature" that operates by itself according to its own nature. The senses and the mind have their own way of functioning.
When hunger arises from the "hunger center", it automatically moves the body and mind for the fulfillment of that desire. If we are aware of this phenomena, we will see to it that we are not the one that is hungry, neither are the ones that eat. The body by its own nature goes to find the food and the mind shows the way. There is no sense in restraining the body in its path to find the food or otherwise the body out of hunger will collapse.
Similarly, the natures born of the "prakriti" automatically move the senses towards their sense objects without our involvement in them. When the body has the sexual desire to fulfill, it will automatically work towards the fulfillment of its needs with the help of the mind. We do not need to interfere in this automatic action of the "prakriti". The interfering can be called repression. If the innate nature of the senses are repressed, the consequences will be worse. Just like a hungry body will collapse after some time, the unnatural effects will be produced in the body and the mind if they are not allowed to operate according to their own nature.
On the other hand, skipping from our duties that are in front of us just because they take physical effort or are disagreeable is another form of restraining the "prakriti." We must let our mind, body and senses operate according to their own nature in the fulfillment of the divine plan and welfare of mankind without ourselves getting involved. We must let the senses operate according to their own inclinations as mere witnesses.
Being aware of all that is going on in our body and mind which is a miniature universe leads us to the greater understanding of the cosmos itself. We are not the doers of what happens around us. The body and mind function in accordance with their own nature just like sun, moon and earth revolve in their own orbit. By contemplating that we are the doer of this and that, we accumulate an ego which is mere accumulation of thoughts and create an ore of misery for ourselves.
Mere awareness of what's going on in our system will lead us to knowing the extent of wrong acts that we are leading our body and mind to. Greater awareness will lead us to the knowing that we are not the body, the mind or the ego but the awareness itself. This state of no-mind is called Buddhahood or Shivahood.