Article sent from The Hindu on indiaserver.com

[Guest guest]

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( rchandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Need to keep senses under control

 

CHENNAI, DEC. 5. In one of his verses in the moral code he has

left for posterity, Bartruhari has said: ``Let a moth enter a

flame by virtue of its unawareness of the intensity of the heat

to burn it. Let a fish bite the baited hook because of its

ignorance. We, men, however, refuse to part with objects of

sensual enjoyment even though we know them to be the causes of

all our problems. How inscrutable is the impact of delusion.''

The sloka is intended to plead with men to be ever vigilant about

the lure of senses and the need to keep them under control.

Otherwise they will be only inviting trouble.

 

To illustrate the contents of this stanza, a story can be

narrated. When chasing a deer, a hunter blew a conch. The sound

allured the deer and this opportunity was made best use of by the

hunter to kill it. Thus the animal lost its life because of its

attachment to sound. To trap an elephant, people first see that

it is slowly pushed into a pit kept dug already unseen by

camouflaging the area. Then they tie it till it is tamed. To

train it, they send a well-groomed female elephant. When there is

contact between the two, the male gradually gets delighted and

then turns docile. People make it do exercises and work for them.

It thus loses its freedom just by yielding to the touch of the

female. When fire in a camp is lit, moths get attracted to the

flame and unaware of the danger lying ahead, rush and die in the

heat. They are destroyed as they are charmed by the colour of the

flames. A bee sits on a lotus and sucks the nectar not realising

that the flower's petals get closed by dusk. Still the bee felt

that it could escape the next morning when the flower blossomed

(as sun's ray fall), but unfortunately, a herd of animals which

came to play in the water, crushed all the flowers and the bee

met with its doom.

 

Explaining how human beings also get lost by the impact of

different sense-objects, like pleasing sound, stimulating touch,

tasty dishes and fragrant odours, speakers at a function to

celebrate the birthday of Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal

of Sringeri Math, mentioned how the Acharya used to caution

people through his edifying parables. Apart from keeping away

from attractions, men should cultivate humility so as to be

admired by others.

 

A person who was a braggart and egoist to the core used to claim

that he was indispensable and that he earned a lot; listing his

achievements one of his friends asked him to have a look at the

tall gopuram of a temple. Its architectural splendour and height

filled him with awe and as he gazed at it, he felt insignificant

and realised that compared to it, he was but an insect and shed

the habit of boasting.

 

Copyrights: 2000 The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.