Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-26)

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

advaitin/message/27766

 

For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/28339

 

SEC. 18: SHAMA AND DAMA (Continued)

 

Kathopanishad gives a beautiful analogy for mind and the

senses. Jiva is like the master seated in a chariot. The

body is the chariot. The intellect is the charioteer. The

chariot has several horses. Which are the horses? They are

nothing but our senses. The charioteer steers the chariot

by pulling the reins thereby controlling the horses.

Those reins are the mind. The intellect – the one which has

already been tempered by viveka and vairAgya, the first two

of the four parts of Sadhana-chatushhTayaM – is now the

wise intellect and therefore the right charioteer who

pilots the chariot of the body along the path of life. The

right path is the spiritual path. The charioteer has to

pull the reins (the mind) the proper way, not too hard,

not too loose, so that the sense-horses go only in the

direction of the highest experiences in life. When the

destination of Brahman realisation arrives, one releases

the horses (senses) as well as the reins (the mind) and

also the charioteer (the intellect), the Jiva (the resident

of the chariot) who is the master can enjoy the Self by

himself for himself!

 

‘dama’ denotes sense-control; but here only the senses of

perception (jnAnendriyas) are indicated. Just as it is the

mind which is the force behind the five senses of

perception so also it is the force of the senses of

perception that motivate the karmendriyas (senses of

action) into action. That is why, the control of the senses

of action are not dealt with separately. The control of

indriyas usually means control of the five senses of

perception only. In Viveka Chudamani a little later (#76

or 78, depending on what reading you are using) these five

senses are shown to be the harbinger of all evil. “The deer

obtains its ruin by the sense of sound through the ear

(Hunters play the flute, the deer gets charmed by the music

and stands still; that is when it is caught). The elephant

reaches its ruin by the sense of touch through the skin

(The he-elephant is caught when he forgets himself in the

pleasure of contact with a she-elephant, already known to

him and now lured into his track). The moth meets its

death by sensing the form through the eyes (Does it not

burn itself by being attracted by the form of light-flame

which deludes it?). The fish meets its ruin by the sense of

taste realised by the tongue (The bait of the fisherman is

the worm that prompts the fish to taste it and gets

caught). The bee meets its ruin by the sense of smell (The

smell of the champaka flower attracts the bee and it goes

and sits inside the full blossom of the flower; when the

flower petals close up the bee still remains there, being

enchanted by the smell and that is when it dies, starved of

fresh air). Thus each of the five different senses of

perception prove to be the cause of death for one of the

five different species of beings. The human, on the other

hand is a prey to all the five senses of perception. What

to speak of the crisis in store for him?”

 

However, in shloka #23 he refers to *ubhayeshhAM

indriyANAM*, where he defines ‘dama’. He says ‘dama’ is the

control of both types of senses, of perception as well as

of action; the control is of the experience of pleasures

obtained by both:

 

vishhayebhyaH parAvartya sthApanaM sva-svagolake /

ubhayeshhAM indriyANAM sa damaH parikIrtitaH //

 

‘dama’ is said to be the withdrawal of both kinds of

senses (jnAna as well as karma) from their objects of

enjoyment and limiting them to their own spheres

(*sva-sva-golake*).

 

Here the ‘withdrawing of the senses’ makes sense; but

‘limiting the senses to their own spheres’ is not so clear.

Let me tell you how I have myself understood this. It does

not mean that one should not see anything, should not hear

anything, should not eat anything, should not move about or

do anything with hands and feet. No, the Acharya does not

mean that. If we stop all activities that way then the

journey of life itself would become impossible. And then

where comes the sAdhanA? Only if the base screen is there

you can draw pictures on it. Whatever is necessary for

life’s journey – like seeing, hearing, eating, walking,

moving – has to be done. Thus what is necessary to be done

automatically defines a limit, a limiting sphere of

activity, on all the senses. This is what is called

*golaka* by the Acharya. That particular activity of the

particular sense (indriya) which is necessary for life to

continue, that range of activity is its golakaM. Once you

transcend it, it is detrimental to the spirit. That

boundary shall never be crossed. An automobile for instance

can go at a particular speed; the very purpose of an

automobile is to go places. But there is a speed limit. In

the same way in the journey of life so long as the journey

is on, there is work for the senses. You cannot stifle them

by cutting them off from their work.

 

The Lord says in the Gita (III – 8) : Do what is prescribed

for you; Without doing any work you cannot carry on this

journey of life. This has to be brought into concordance

here.

 

Don’t take *golaka* as ‘orb’. Take it as ‘orbit’ – the

path of the movement and not just movement. When all the

planets keep to their orbits around the Sun the solar

universe and the inhabitants of this universe carry on

their routine normally. In order for life in the universe

to be normal the movement of the planets has to conform to

its schedule. What will happen if one of the planets just

go out of its ‘orbit’? What will happen if the planets do

not get into their respectrive orbits? Either way there

will be chaos. In the same way the ten senses of man have

to keep staying in their orbits and keep doing their

prescribed work; otherwise, there will be no life – only

death. Maybe everything will then have to start all over

again according to the maxim *punarapi jananaM*. And we do

not know whether we will get a human birth in that

‘punarapi jananaM’. At least now we talk of the Atman and

we have occasion to talk of ‘SadhanA’ to reach that Atman.

Our new birth may not be anywhere near the availability of

these opportunities. In short, we have to see to it that

the indriyas do their necessary work but do not get out of

their limited sphere of action. The *sthApanaM* (fixation,

establishment) of the senses in their spheres of action is

not a stoppage of the senses, but is a fixing of them in

their own path.

 

Recall that all this applies to both jnAnendriyas (senses

of perception ) and karmendriyas (senses of action).

 

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

Latest on my website: Shrimad Bhagavatam and advaita bhakti. Introduction.

Chatushloki Bhagavatam. Vidura and Maitreya. Kapila Gita.

Dhruva charitam. JaDabharata, Ajamila Stories. Prahlada Charitram.

 

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/VK2/Bhagavatam_Introduction.html

 

and succeeding pages.