How to control the senses?

Controlling all of them (referring to the senses), one should remain concentrated on me as the supreme. For, the wisdom of one whose organs are under control becomes steadfast.

~ Shrimad Bhagwad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 61.

Following is a excerpt from the ‘Online courses on scriptures’ with Acharya Prashant.

Question: What is meant by controlling the senses? Is it related to Yam-Niyam of the Patanjali Yogsutra or is there any other way? Please guide.

Acharya Prashant: The answers is contained very directly very obviously in the verse itself. The verse is, “Controlling the senses, one should remain concentrated on me as a supreme.” The two parts of this sentence are just a reiteration of the same thing. Controlling the sense and remaining concentrated on me meaning the truth or Krishna are one and the same thing.

The Indic scriptures use the method of repetition greatly and with great effect too. The same thing is repeated a thousand times. In sometimes slightly different ways, in sometimes highly different ways. But they rely a lot on repetition, same thing is happening here as well.

Controlling the senses, one should remain concentrated on me as a supreme. Please understand the inner dynamics of it. The senses want something as a object. So the trick, the method here is to keep telling the senses that the only worthy object is Krishna. So the movement the senses feel attracted towards a sight.

What do you remind the senses? What do you tell the eyes? The only sight worth beholding is the image of Krishna. So forget that which you are currently getting attracted to, forget it.

The ears feel attracted to particular sound or voice. What do remind the ears? The only sound worth remembering is that of the flute of Krishna. So don’t pay too much attention to what you are currently hearing, ignore it. The mind, the sixth sense, is busy thinking about something. What do you tell the mind? The only worthy object of the thought is Krishna himself. So drop all the non-Krishna nonsense that you are obsessed with, that’s the method.