Trapped by the senses

While part of this world which is tangible to the human senses and also provides intellectual and mental nourishment, it is a challenge for every individual in every birth to transcend the worldly pulls and seek the higher truth that liberates. Adi Sankara’s Viveka Chudamani throws light on this human predicament that fails to grasp the truth of one’s existence and continues to be deluded by the senses and their attractions, pointed out Sri B. Sundarkumar

in a discourse.

The body is the prime cause of delusion in the individual. It is composed of five gross elements — ether, air, fire, water and earth — and five subtle elements, sound, touch, sight, taste and smell. These combine and become the objects of the senses and contribute to the happiness of the experiencer, the jivatma. The jivatma is tied to the objects he experiences by the strong cord of desire that is very

difficult to break. Man too gets trapped by his senses and thus remains subject to birth and death, being driven by his own karma. Any one of these five senses is sufficient to cause death as it does with the moth, deer, elephant, fish and bee. He who has not controlled the senses meets the fate of a moth that gets attracted to the brilliance of the fire and perishes in it. The deer is an example of how it can be trapped by the hunter’s sound. The sense of touch is the weak spot for the elephant. It is caught when it goes in search of the she elephant and unknowingly falls into the trap of the hunter. The fish gets attracted to the bait and
succumbs to the taste and dies.

Vairagya is the detachment that one develops towards the attractions of the world. It signifies absence of worldly desires or passions and indifference to the world. This is the state of asceticism that sastras recommend as the step to

salvation from samsara. Viveka is the power of distinguishing between what is real and unreal and in
Vedanta it implies a sense of discrimination, discernment, judgment and discretion.