Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Soundarya Lahari - Part 141



(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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