Soundarya Lahari - Part 148

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Mind and the five senses are together counted as six instruments for the human being. Instruments are called ‘karaNas’ in Sanskrit. The six ‘karaNas’ of man are like the ‘caraNas’ (feet) of a bee. So the jIva itself is nothing but a six-footed bee with six instruments of action. The analogy becomes apt when we think of the bee merging into the depths of a flower with all its (six) feet stuck in that depth. For, the  jIva has to work its way to stick its six instruments out into the lotus of the divine feet of the Mother.

This is the idea which our Acharya himself later builds into Sloka 90 of Soundaryalahari: ‘nimajjan majjIvaH karaNa-caraNaH shhaT-caraNatAm’, meaning, ‘plunging (into Your lotus feet), may this  jIva of mine with its six instruments as the feet (become) the six-legged bee’.

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