The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol 4 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol 4 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol 4 (of 4), Part 1 (of 2)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
41. It is reckoned as the greatest victory, that may be won by the
valour, magnanimity, and fortitude of great men, if they can but conquer
the unconquerable organs of sense, which makes the utmost glory of the
great (or which redounds with the greatest to the great).
42. So long as a man is not flung and carried about as a light and
trifling straw, by the irresistible force of his sensual appetites, he
is said to have attained to the perfection and excellence of the deities
of heaven.
43. I account men of well governed senses and those of great fortitude,
to be truly men in their sense, or else all other men of ungoverned
minds, are mere moving machines of the flesh and bones that compose
their bodies.
44. O Sage! I think I can overcome all things, if I can but reduce the
force of the five external organs of sense, which form the battalion
under the command of the mind (and is led against the province of the
soul).
45. Unless you can heal your sensual appetites, which forms the great
malady of the mind, by the prescriptions of your reason, you cannot get
rid of them by any medicine or mantra, or by holy pilgrimage or any
other remedy. (The subjection of the senses, is the first step to
holiness).
46. I am led to great distress by the joint force of my senses, as a
lonely traveller is waylaid in his journey by a gang of robbers. (It may
be possible to withstand any particular appetite but not all at once).
47. The organs of sense are as dirty canals of the body, with their
stagnate and foul watery matter, they are filled with noxious and hairy
moss, and emit a malarious stink.
48. The senses seem to me as so many deep and dark forests, covered with
impervious snows, and full of terrors that render them impassable to
travellers.
49. The organs of the outward senses resemble the stalks of lotuses,
growing upon the dirt of the body with holes in them, but without any
visible thread therein. They are knotty on the outside, and without any
sensibility of their own; (except what is supplied to them by the soul).
50. Our sensualities are as so many seas with their briny waters, and
huge billows dashing on every side; they abound with various gems and
pearls, but are full of horrible whales and sharks at the same time.
51. Sensual pleasure brings on the untimely death of the sensualist, and
causes the grief and sadness of his friends there-in; it makes others to
take pity on his state, and mourn at his fate, which conducts him to
repeated transmigrations only.
52. The senses are as vast and unlimited wilderness to men, which prove
friendly to the wise, and inimical to the unwise.
53. The sphere of the senses is as dark as that of the clouded sky,
where the black clouds of distress are continually growling, and the
lightnings of joy are incessantly flashing with their transient glare.
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