(Continued...)
The words ‘pAshaM’ and ‘ankushaM’ both ring a bell
and bring the ‘elephant’ to our minds. The elephant is always tethered by a
heavy chain to an anchor. The chain is actually a ‘rope of attachment’
(pAshak-kayiru, in Tamil) for the elephant. The twins ‘kAma’ and ‘krodha’ are
elephant-like in their strength; so they have to be controlled with effort in the same way an elephant is
controlled by a ‘pAshaM’ (rope) and ‘ankushamí (goad).
The man who rides and
monitors the elephant uses the goad to control it. The elephant-like evils of Desire and
Anger are both in the mind. So it
is the mind that has to be controlled. In fact in Sivanandalahari (shloka #96)
our Acharya compares the human mind to a ‘madhepa’, meaning, a mad elephant.
(Continued...)
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