Shama & dama - (Part 1 of two). Adapted from Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses

[Guest guest]

Namaste all.

 

As Dhyanasaraswatiji and Ram Chandranji have both suggested, I extracted

the relevant portions from the Kanchi Mahaswamigal's discourses, deleted

Sanskrit words and quotations 'as much as possible' (!), omitted some

technicalities and have finally landed up in the following, which, I think

may be comfortably read by all beginners to advaita. But let not the

so-called non-beginners ignore the material; because the six treasured

qualities of which shama and dama are the first two, can never be

over-emphasized or over-done. Please note that this write-up cannot be

classified under the weekly definitions scheme but the material on shama and

dama of the Swamigal is so authentic, exhaustive and connected that it does

not admit any further precis-writing. I intend to follow this up with

similar extracts for the other four qualities. Even this one, 'shama and

dama' will be covered in two parts. Those who want to have the Sanskrit

words and quotations may go to

 

Pages 51 to 93 of the following advaitin file:

 

http://www.advaitin.net/Discussion%20Topics/advaita-saadhanaa.pdf

 

 

Or, alternatively, to Sections 18 to 23 of the following webpage on my site:

 

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

 

----------

------------------

 

Shama & dama (Part 1)

 

The sextad of treasures beginning with 'shama' are: 'shama', 'dama',

'uparati', 'titikshhA', 'shraddhA' and 'samAdhAna'. These six are referred

to as 'shamAdi sampat' by our Acharya. Note that it is 'shamAdi' and not

'samAdhi'. The 'sha' is not the 'sa' of 'sa-ri-ga-ma-pa...' but the 'sha'

of 'Shankara'.

 

What is 'shama'? The Acharya gives the following definition in

Vivekachudamani: 22: The conglomerate of all sensual experience is in the

form of sound, touch, form, taste and smell by the five sense organs. By

discretion (viveka) and dispassion (vairAgya) one has to analyse and

discover that all these are only obstacles on the path to Self-Realisation

and so we have to discard them. Our mind is always thinking about what it

considers pleasurable and is perturbed because of the inability to reach

them. Thus it misses peace and happiness. Once we discard the sense objects

as bad then it would be possible to fix the mind on the goal of SAdhanA,

the Atman, which is full of peace and happiness. In other words the mind

that is frantically running after multifarious matters can be made to stop

that running and can be tethered to one goal. That kind of control is what

is called *shama*.

 

One should think about the negative effects of the gang of sense experience.

Discard them out of disgust. Keep the mind tethered under control in one's

goal. This is 'shama'. In short, the control of mind is 'shama'.

 

Why does the mind run after sense objects? It is because of the footprints

of past experience. They are called 'smell' or 'vAsanA'. This continues

life after life. This inter-life vAsanA continues in a latent form in the

subtle body, even after the physical body dies. When the soul takes another

birth and thus obtains a new physical body, the latent vAsanAs begin to show

their mettle! If those vAsanAs can be eradicated in toto, the mind will be

calmed automatically. This is the way he defines 'shama' in

'aparokshhAnubhUti': Abandonment always of desire-promptings through

vAsanAs is said to be 'shama.

 

It is enough to understand that 'shama' is control of the mind.

 

The thing that comes next is 'dama'. It is control of the sense organs. In

fact there is a lot more to say about 'shama'. But mind-control and

sense-control have both to go hand in hand. So let us talk about some basics

of 'dama' also now and then we can go more deeply about both together.

 

Sense organs are ten - five organs of action and five organs of perception.

But the latter cannot 'do' anything themselves. The organs of action do

action themselves: actions done by hands - the names 'kara' (hand) and

'kAryaM' (action) are themselves indicative, the legs do action by walking,

jumping and running, the mouth speaks or sings, and two remaining organs

excrete waste or vIryaM from the human body. On the other hand the organs

of perception are those which cognize (or perceive) things in the outside

world and 'experience' them. The ear experiences sound, the skin

experiences the smoothness or otherwise and the coldness or hotness of

something outside, the eye perceives colour and form, the tongue

experiences the taste like sourness, bitterness or sweetness and the nose

knows the experience of smell.

 

When we do not keep these sense organs under control all the mischief

happens. The JIva is bound to this mayic world through the experiences by

these sense organs. Only when we control these organs may we hope to enter

the world of spirituality. Such control is called 'dama'.

 

The direct meanings of both 'shama' and 'dama' is control without any

specific qualifier. But traditional usage recognises two controls - one,

control of the sense organs which either receive or respond to knowledge

from outside and control of the sense organs which do actions to help such

perception or response and two, control of the mind which creates its own

world of thoughts and constantly is roaming about with or without aim in

that world. Usage distinguishes these two controls and so uses 'shama' for

mind control and 'dama' for sense control. Since anyway both mean control

the Acharya himself, in the beginning of his 'Bee stotra' goes against

traditional usage and uses 'dama' where he wants to say 'control the mind'

and uses 'shama' where he wants to say 'control the senses that run to the

mirage of outside sense objects'. The Prakarana works of the Acharya are

unique in describing the advaitic experiences. One can also get from them

the rationale and procedure of SAdhanA regimen in a systematic way. On the

other hand when we want to get at the siddhanta (conclusion) by analysing

the pros and cons of Vedanta, we have to give weight to his Bhashyas. And

we may be surprised to note that in these very Bhashyas he has sometimes

interpreted shama and dama in a way contrary to their traditional usage! In

fact this has raised even some controversy among scholars. Remember I told

you earlier that the sextad of qualifications with the exception of shraddhA

has been mentioned in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. In his commentary at that

point, the Acharya has interpreted 'shAnta' (one endowed with shama) as 'one

who has controlled the goings-on of the outer senses' that is, the one who

has reached a position generally accepted to be the state of 'dama'; and he

has interpreted 'dAnta' (one endowed with dama) as 'one who has released

himself of the thirst of the inner organ, the mind, that is, the one who

has reached a position generally accepted to be the state of 'shama'. On the

other hand, in his prakaraNa work, Viveka-chudamani, he goes with the

general trend of meaning. But this need not raise a debate or controversy.

He wrote the Bhashyas almost soon after he was initiated into Sannyasa in

his youth. Shama, dama both point to 'control' and he might have thought it

fit to talk of sense-control first and then only of mind-control. And later

when he travelled throughout the country he might have decided to follow the

accepted tradition among the scholars.

 

'dama' and 'shama' both imply a control on oneself by oneself. So when we

generally talk of self-control in an integrated sense of both mind-control

and sense-control, we may rightly use either 'dama' or 'shama' alone. In

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad when BrahmA teaches the divines generally to be

humble, he just says " dAmyata " thus using only the word 'dama'.

 

An alternate name for Bharata, the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala is

'sarva-damana', meaning one who controls and reigns over all. It was

because of the dominance of her beauty that Damayanti is so called. The God

of Death, Yama, is called 'shamana' because he calms away the life of every

one, be he a king or a pauper, when the time comes for it.

 

From the word 'dama' the two words 'damanaM' and 'dAnti' have been derived;

so also from the word 'shama', the two words 'shamanaM' and 'shAnti' have

come. The words 'shamanaM' and 'shAnti' are more frequently in use than

'damanaM' and 'dAnti'. We say 'ushhNa-shamanaM' and 'pitha-shamanaM' for

controlling heat and bile, respectively. Also 'krodha-shamanaM' for

controlling anger. Though 'control' is generally the intention here, the

connotation is more mild and points out only to a softening rather than a

violent control. The word 'shAnti' itself connotes a calming down and stands

for a peaceful process or state where the intensity of control does not

surface. 'shAnti' is the state of calmed mind; 'dAnti' is the state of

calmed senses.

 

The eyes and ears can close themselves and stop seeing or hearing. The hands

and legs also can be tied so that they are incapable of any action. But even

then the mind will be having its own goings-on without any discipline. Even

though the senses are not experiencing anything, the mind can imagine them

and go through all the rumblings and turbulences. When the senses act they

act only by the promptings of the mind and for the satisfaction of the mind

or fulfillment of the desires of the mind. So what is necessary is to

immobilise the mind in order to stop all the multifarious activities of the

senses.

 

It is because of this importance of mental control and discipline that

SAdhanA regimens talk first of shama and dwell on dama later.

 

Of course an objection may be raised: " If shama is achieved then

automatically dama is also a part of it; so why has it to be dealt with

separately? "

 

The complete control of the mind - what is also called the 'death of the

mind' occurs only almost at the last stage. We are here talking about the

penultimate stages. Of course one has to try to control the mind right from

the beginning. But the attempt at such control will only succeed

temporarily. The moment the eyes see a tasty dish or the nose smells

something familiarly pleasant, all discipline goes to the winds. The legs

take you to the dish, the hands grab it, and the mouth begins to chew it.

Thus even the mind was having a little control of itself, the senses

perceive the sense object and that starts a yearning and that does havoc to

the control of the mind. Until we reach a spiritual height, our mind behaves

like this - that is, controlled when the sense objectrs are not in the

perception-range of the senses, and losing control when the senses 'sense'

the objects of temptation. Those are the situations when the 'eyes', 'ears'

'nose', 'legs' 'hands' etc. have to be imprisoned and bound. This is why,

'dama' is mentioned as soon as 'shama' is mentioned.

 

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

Discrimination and Dispassion, 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 senses of action into action. That is why,

the control of the senses of action are not dealt with separately. The

control of senses 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 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:'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 of recursive births. And we do not know whether we

will get a human birth in that recursion. 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 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 senses of perception and senses of

action. Usually the five senses of perception and the five of action are

counted along with the mind as eleven indriyas. When we fast on the Ekadasi

day (the eleventh day of the lunar cycle) it is for starving these eleven

indriyas. Manu has said: Manusmriti II - 92) " Know the mind as the eleventh

indriya, that has an interactive relationship with the pair of five indriyas

each ; Just by vanquishing that one, we would have conquered the other ten " .

 

(To be continued)

 

PraNAms to the Kanchi Mahaswamigal.

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

[Guest guest]

Thank you Professor-ji for a presentation of Shama and Dama from the

archives. In This context, the story of King Yayati from Srimad

Bhagvatam comes to mind who lost it all while hankering after

sensual pleasures. May be you can narrate the story for the benefit

of the readers here .

 

May i please recall a verse from the Srimad Bhagavat Gita in this

context?

 

Bg- chapter 2 , verse 59

 

visaya vinivartante

niraharasya dehinah

rasa-varjam raso 'py asya

param drstva nivartate

 

Swami Chinmayananda's explanation from the Advaitin files

 

The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man leaving

the longing (behind) ; but his longing also leaves him on seeing the

Supreme.

Without Pratyahara (or Uparati), we can observe cases wherein an

individual comes to maintain sense-withdrawal from the sense-objects

due to some physical incapacity or due to some special mental mood

of temporary sorrow or misery. In all those cases, though the sense-

organs come to feel an aversion for the respective objects, their

inclination for these objects merely remains dormant for the time

being. Similarly, Arjuna doubts that, even in a Yogin, the capacity

to withdraw from the temptations of the sense-world, may be

temporary and that, under favourable or sufficiently tempting

circumstances, they may again raise their hoods to hiss and to

poison. His doubt is answered here.

 

If you observe the flight of the objects of sensuousness from the

shops to their customers, you can understand this point very

clearly. They always reach only those who are courting them and are

panting to possess them. The wine-cellars get emptied when the

bottle " walkout " to replenish the side-boards of the drunkards!

Ploughs made by the smithy are not purchased by artists and poets,

doctors and advocates, but they must necessarily reach the homes of

the farmers. Similarly, all sense-objects ultimately reach those who

are courting them with burning desires. From one who is completely

abstinent, sense-objects must necessarily get repelled.

 

But even though the sense-objects may, temporarily, seem to turn

away from him who is abstinent, the deep taste for them, ingrained

in his mind, is very difficult to erase completely. Here Krishna, in

his Supreme Wisdom, assures the seeker that these mental impressions

of sensuous lives, lived in the past by the ego, from the beginning

of creation to date, will all be totally erased, or at least made

ineffective --- as roasted seeds --- when the seeker transcends the

ego and comes to experience the Self.

 

This is not very difficult to understand, since we know that the

objects of sorrow and occasions of tragedy in one plane-of-

consciousness are not available in another. The kingship that I

enjoy in my dream, does not add even a jot to my dignity when I wake

up to realise my insignificant existence; so too, my meagre

existence in the waking-state will not debar me from the full kingly

glory in my dream-kingdom!!

 

Similarly, the ego, existing now through the waking, dream and deep-

sleep states, has gathered to itself a dung-heap of impressions, all

purely sensuous. But these cannot be effective when the same ego,

transcending these three planes, comes to experience the plane of

God-consciousness.

 

HE, WHO WOULD ACQUIRE STEADINESS OF RIGHT KNOWLEDGE (Prajna) SHOULD

FIRST BRING HIS SENSES UNDER CONTROL. FOR, IF NOT CONTROLLED, THEY

WILL DO HARM.

 

to be continued .......

[Guest guest]

Continueing our discussion on Shama and Dama , let me now recall

verse verse 60 from chapter 2 from Srimad Bhagvat Gita :

 

yatato hy api kaunteya

purusasya vipascitah

indriyani pramathini

haranti prasabham manah

 

SRILA PRABHUPADA'S TRANSLATION

 

The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly

carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is

endeavoring to control them.

 

SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA EXPLAINS THIS VERSE THUS

 

The turbulent senses, O son of Kunti, do violently carry away the

mind of a wise-man, though he be striving (to control them) .

 

The Lord has emphasized that a perfect-Master is one who has

complete control over his sense-appetites. In India, a mere

philosophical idea, in itself, is not considered anything more than

a poetic ideology, and it is not accepted as a spiritual thesis

unless it is followed by a complete technique by which the seeker

can come to live it, in his own subjective experience. True to this

traditional Aryan faith, in the Geeta too, the Lord indicates to

Arjuna the practical method, by which he should struggle hard, in

order to reach the eminence of perfection in all men-of-steady-

Wisdom.

 

The ignorance of the Spiritual Reality functions in any individual

in three distinct aspects: " Unactivity " (Sattwa) " Activity " (Rajas);

and " Inactivity " (Tamas). When the Sattwa aspect in us is molested

by the " veiling of the intellect " (Avarana) and the " lack of

tranquillity " of the mind (Vikshepa), then we come to the sorrows

caused by their endless roamings through the sense-organs. Unless

these are well-controlled, they will drag the mind to the field of

the sense-objects, and thus create a chaotic condition within, which

is experienced as sorrow.

 

That this happens even to a highly evolved seeker, is here accepted

by the statement of the Lord. With this assertion, he is warning the

seeker in Arjuna, that he should not on any score let his " objective-

mind " take hold of, and enslave his " subjective-intellect. " This

warning is quite appropriate and timely in the scheme of thought in

this chapter.

 

Invariably, among those who are practising religion, the common

cause by which very many true seekers fall away from the Path, is

the same all over the world. After a few years of practice, they, no

doubt, come to live a certain inexplicable inward joy, and over-

confident, and often even vainful of their progress, they relax in

their Tapas. Once they come back to the field of the senses, " the

turbulent senses do violently snatch the mind away " from the poise

of perfect meditation!

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Harihi Aum!