Date uploaded in London – 24 July 2024
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Sankara is down to earth. He used eight animals to make his point. A layman reading it would easily remember his points. He used five animals, insects and fish to say how five senses trap a man. And then he used shark to say that people with less Vairagya (dispassion) will be devoured by Sharks in the Samsaara Saaagara (Ocean of family life).
The crocodile image is very interesting. He himself became a saint cum philosopher only because of a crocodile. As a boy he accompanied his mother to the river to take morning bath in his home town Kaladi (kaaladi) in Kerala. When a crocodile caught his leg he and his mother cried then he told his mother “allow me to become a Sanyaasi (ascetic); the the crocodile will leave, because this birth is over for me. If I become a Sanyasi, it means second birth. A mother would wish her son to live wherever he is. So she said Yes. Knowing crocodile well, in VC he gives us an interesting analogy. It is like holding a crocodile to cross the river. Crocodiles are like ice bergs. It hides its body and only the back will be visible in the river water. Anyone would mistake it for a floating log.
Again he used cobra poison which are like five senses to warn us about the evil effects uncontrolled senses. Using cobras or snakes is very common among saints. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa uses snakes again and again.
Like Tamil Saint Tirumular who lived 1200 years before our time, Sankara describes the body anatomy. Earlier I pointed out Sri Aadi Sankara was from Kerala, land of Aayur Vedaa and thick forests and sea with full of shrks and rivers with full of crocodiles. More over hundreds of Crocodile episodes are from Mahabharata to Tamil Saint Sundarar who did the miracle of bringing back a boy alive who was devoured by a crocodile years ago.
Here are interesting animal analogies.
Sloka 71
यद्बोद्धव्यं तवेदानीमात्मानात्मविवेचनम् ।
तदुच्यते मया सम्यक्श्रुत्वात्मन्यवधारय ॥ ७१ ॥
yadboddhavyaṃ tavedānīmātmānātmavivecanam |
taducyate mayā samyakśrutvātmanyavadhāraya || 71 ||
71. Now I am going to tell thee fully about what you ought to know – the discrimination between the Self and the non-Self. Listen to it and decide about it in your mind.
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ANATOMY (ALSO IN SLOKA- 87)
मज्जास्थिमेदःपलरक्तचर्म
त्वगाह्वयैर्धातुभिरेभिरन्वितम् ।
पादोरुवक्षोभुजपृष्ठमस्तकैः
अङ्गैरुपाङ्गैरुपयुक्तमेतत् ॥ ७२ ॥
majjāsthimedaḥpalaraktacarma
tvagāhvayairdhātubhirebhiranvitam |
pādoruvakṣobhujapṛṣṭhamastakaiḥ
aṅgairupāṅgairupayuktametat || 72 ||
72. Composed of the seven ingredients, viz. marrow, bones, fat, flesh, blood, skin and cuticle, and consisting of the following limbs and their parts – legs, thighs, the chest, arms, the back and the head:
Anatomy
त्वङ्मांसरुधिरस्नायुमेदोमज्जास्थिसंकुलम् ।
पूर्णं मूत्रपुरीषाभ्यां स्थूलं निन्द्यमिदं वपुः ॥ ८७ ॥
tvaṅmāṃsarudhirasnāyumedomajjāsthisaṃkulam |
pūrṇaṃ mūtrapurīṣābhyāṃ sthūlaṃ nindyamidaṃ vapuḥ || 87 ||
87. This gross body is to be deprecated, for it consists of the skin, flesh, blood, arteries and veins, fat, marrow and bones, and is full of other offensive things.
My Comments
If we look at medical books that are hundreds of years old, their approach was similar to Sankara’s; every year the books are updated with newer and newer knowledge. What we have to appreciate is their study of body an medicines .
Tamil Saint Tirumular also says
46. காலும் இரண்டு முகட்டலகு ஒன்றுள
பாலுள் பருங்கழி முப்பத் திரண்டுள
மேலுள கூரை பிரியும் பிரிந்தால்முன்
போலுயிர் மீளப் புக அறி யாதே. 4
146: Skeleton
Two pillars support this roof and one single beam,
Thirty and two the rafters extend side ways,
But as the roof above decays and breaks,
Back to its mansion the breath of life fails its way to trace.
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அடப்பண்ணி வைத்தார் அடிசிலை உண்டார்
மடக்கொடி யாரொடு மந்தணங் கொண்டார்
இடப்பக்க மேஇறை நொந்தது என்றார்
கிடக்கப் படுத்தார் கிடந்தொழிந் தாரே. 6
Death Comes Sudden/ Heart Attack
The rich repast was laid and he dined and joyed,
With damsels sweet in amorous dalliance toyed;
“A little little pain–on the left” he moaned (Angina Described.)
And laid himself to rest to be gathered to dust.
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अहंममेतिप्रथितं शरीरं
मोहास्पदं स्थूलमितीर्यते बुधैः ।
नभोनभस्वद्दहनाम्बुभूमयः
सूक्ष्माणि भूतानि भवन्ति तानि ॥ ७३ ॥
ahaṃmametiprathitaṃ śarīraṃ
mohāspadaṃ sthūlamitīryate budhaiḥ |
nabhonabhasvaddahanāmbubhūmayaḥ
sūkṣmāṇi bhūtāni bhavanti tāni || 73 ||
73. This body, reputed to be the abode of the delusion of ‘I and mine’, is designated by sages as the gross body. The sky, air, fire, water and earth are subtle elements. They –
Notes:
[The sky, air etc.—These are the materials out of which the gross body has been formed. They have got two states, one subtle and the other gross.]
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परस्परांशैर्मिलितानि भूत्वा
स्थूलानि च स्थूलशरीरहेतवः ।
मात्रास्तदीया विषया भवन्ति
शब्दादयः पञ्च सुखाय भोक्तुः ॥ ७४ ॥
parasparāṃśairmilitāni bhūtvā
sthūlāni ca sthūlaśarīrahetavaḥ |
mātrāstadīyā viṣayā bhavanti
śabdādayaḥ pañca sukhāya bhoktuḥ || 74 ||
74. Being united with parts of one another and becoming gross, (they) form the gross body. And their subtle essences form sense-objects – the group of five such as sound, which conduce to the happiness of the experiencer, the individual soul.
Notes:
[Being united &c.—The process is as follows: Each of the five elements is divided into two parts, one of the two halves is further divided into four parts. Then each gross element is formed by the union of one-half of itself with one-eighth of each of the other four.
Subtle essences—Tanmatrás.
Form sense-objects—by being received by the sense-organs.
Sound and the rest—sound, touch, smell, taste and sight.
Happiness &c.—Happiness includes its opposite,—misery also.]
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य एषु मूढा विषयेषु बद्धा
रागोरुपाशेन सुदुर्दमेन ।
आयान्ति निर्यान्त्यध ऊर्ध्वमुच्चैः
स्वकर्मदूतेन जवेन नीताः ॥ ७५ ॥
ya eṣu mūḍhā viṣayeṣu baddhā
rāgorupāśena sudurdamena |
āyānti niryāntyadha ūrdhvamuccaiḥ
svakarmadūtena javena nītāḥ || 75 ||
75. Those fools who are tied to these sense-objects by the stout cord of attachment, so very difficult to snap, come and depart, up and down, carried again by the powerful emissary of their past action.
Notes:
[Come and depart &c.—Become sabject to birth and death and assume various bodies from those of angels to those of brutes, according te the merits of their work.
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FIVE ANIMALS
शब्दादिभिः पञ्चभिरेव पञ्च
पञ्चत्वमापुः स्वगुणेन बद्धाः ।
कुरङ्गमातङ्गपतङ्गमीन
भृङ्गा नरः पञ्चभिरञ्चितः किम् ॥ ७६ ॥
śabdādibhiḥ pañcabhireva pañca
pañcatvamāpuḥ svaguṇena baddhāḥ |
kuraṅgamātaṅgapataṅgamīna
bhṛṅgā naraḥ pañcabhirañcitaḥ kim || 76 ||
76. The deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the honey bee—these five are annihilated because of their slavery to one or the other of the snses sych as sound etc., through their own attachment. What then is the condition of a man who is attached to all these five?
Deer – hunters make sounds to attract and hunt deer- sound is the enemy/ear
Elephants – female elephants are used to catch other big male elephants- sense of touch/skin; hunters kill them just for their valuable tusks
Artha sastra of Kautilya and Tirukkural of Tiru Valluvar spoke about the weakness of elephants
வினையான் வினையாக்கிக் கோடல் நனைகவுள்
யானையால் யானையாத் தற்று.– Kural 678
By one thing done you reach a second work’s accomplishment;
So furious (rutting) elephant to snare its fellow brute is sent. Kural 678
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The moth is attracted by the flames ; they fall into it and got killed- fire/ eye
Fish – fishermen and anglers use he bait to catch them – sense of taste/tongue
Honey bee- they are attracted by fragrance of flowers- fragrance/smell/nose. At the end honey gatherer set fire to the hives to get the honey.
Sankara gives us five typical examples wherein each has met its doom because of its attachment to one or the other of the five senses.
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Cobra Poison
दोषेण तीव्रो विषयः कृष्णसर्पविषादपि ।
विषं निहन्ति भोक्तारं द्रष्टारं चक्षुषाप्ययम् ॥ ७७ ॥
doṣeṇa tīvro viṣayaḥ kṛṣṇasarpaviṣādapi |
viṣaṃ nihanti bhoktāraṃ draṣṭāraṃ cakṣuṣāpyayam || 77 ||
77. Sense-objects are even more virulent in their evil effects than the poison of the cobra. Poison kills one who takes it, but those others kill one who even looks at them through the eyes.
Notes:
[Looks at them…… eyes.—The mention of the eyes here is only typical, and implies the other sense-organs also; contact with the external world by any organ, is intended. ]
Power of eyes; Tamil poet Tiru Valluvar says
கண்டார் உயிருண்ணும் தோற்றத்தால் பெண்டகைப்
பேதைக்கு அமர்த்தன கண்.– Kural 1084
In sweet simplicity, A woman’s gracious form hath she;
But yet those eyes, that drink my life, Are with the form at strife!.
Or
The eyes of this gentle creature which do not agree with her womanly natureseem bent on taking the lives of them that gaze.
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கூற்றமோ கண்ணோ பிணையோ மடவரல்
நோக்கமிம் மூன்றும் உடைத்து.– 1085
The light that on me gleams, Is it death’s dart? or eye’s bright beams?
Or fawn’s shy glance? All three appear In form of maiden here.-1085
Or
Is it Death or indeed eyes or is it a gazelle? The look of this maiden has all the three.
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विषयाशामहापाशाद्यो विमुक्तः सुदुस्त्यजात् ।
स एव कल्पते मुक्त्यै नान्यः षट्शास्त्रवेद्यपि ॥ ७८ ॥
viṣayāśāmahāpāśādyo vimuktaḥ sudustyajāt |
sa eva kalpate muktyai nānyaḥ ṣaṭśāstravedyapi || 78 ||
78. He who is free from the terrible fetters of the hankering for the sense-objects, so very difficult to get rid of, is alone fit for Liberation, and none else – even though he be versed in all the six Śastras.
Notes:
[Six Shastras.—The six schools of Indian philosophy are meant. Mere book-learning without the heart’s yearning for emancipation will not produce any effect.]
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says
Fish
Seeing the gleaming water passes through the valve of the bamboo trap placed in rice fields, small fish enter with great glee. But having once entered, they cannot come out. Similarly foolish men enter the meshes of the world, lured by its false glitter; but it is much easier to enter than to escape; and they are caught like little fish.
About Books
The Granthas/books are sometimes Granthis/knots. They are good only when they lead to the higher knowledge. Para-vidya i.e. the higher knowledge, is that by which we know God. All else, scriptures, philosophy , logic, grammar etc, only burden and puzzle the mind.
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SHARK
आपातवैराग्यवतो मुमुक्षून्
भवाब्धिपारं प्रतियातुमुद्यतान् ।
आशाग्रहो मज्जयतेऽन्तराले
निगृह्य कण्ठे विनिवर्त्य वेगात् ॥ ७९ ॥
āpātavairāgyavato mumukṣūn
bhavābdhipāraṃ pratiyātumudyatān |
āśāgraho majjayate’ntarāle
nigṛhya kaṇṭhe vinivartya vegāt || 79 ||
79. Those seekers after liberation who have got only an apparent dispassion (Vairāgya) and are trying to cross the ocean of Samsāra (relative existence), the shark of hankering catches by the throat and violently snatching away drowns them half-way.
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विषयाख्यग्रहो येन सुविरक्त्यसिना हतः ।
स गच्छति भवाम्भोधेः पारं प्रत्यूहवर्जितः ॥ ८0 ॥
viṣayākhyagraho yena suviraktyasinā hataḥ |
sa gacchati bhavāmbhodheḥ pāraṃ pratyūhavarjitaḥ || 80 ||
80. He who has killed the shark known as sense-object with the sword of mature dispassion, crosses the ocean of Samsara, free from all obstacles.
[Dispassion—Vairagya. ]
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CROCODILE
शरीरपोषणार्थी सन् य आत्मानं दिदृक्षति ।
ग्राहं दारुधिया धृत्वा नदि तर्तुं स गच्छति ॥ ८४ ॥
śarīrapoṣaṇārthī san ya ātmānaṃ didṛkṣati |
grāhaṃ dārudhiyā dhṛtvā nadi tartuṃ sa gacchati || 84 ||
84. Whoever seeks to realise the Self by devoting himself to the nourishment of the body, proceeds to cross a river by catching hold of a crocodile, mistaking it for a log.
—subham—
Tags- human anatomy, 8 animals, Saknkara, Viveka Chudamani,
Sankara on Zoology, My Research Notes,Part 21
Tamil and Vedas 