Beware of the senses!

Adi Shankara points out the danger that lurks in the five senses, which threatens all human beings. By identifying totally with the body and indulging in experiences through all the five sensory pathways, a human is in a worse condition than other species in the animal kingdom, that are enslaved predominantly by only one sense organ.

This is illustrated in a verse in Viveka Choodaamani. Shankara enquires: “what is the condition of a human being attached to all the five senses, when the deer, elephant, moth, fish and honeybee meet their destruction while enslaved by one of the senses?”

शब्दादिभिः पंचभिरेव पंचपंचत्वमापुः स्वगुणेन बद्धाः ।

कुरंग मातंग पतंग मीन भृंगा नरः पंचभिरंचितः किम् ॥

shabdAdibhiH panchabhireva pancha panchatvam-ApuH svaguNena baddhAH /

kuranga-mAtanga-patanga-mIna-bRungA naraH panchabhir-anchitaH kiM //

• The deer is charmed by sweet sounds made by a hunter, and is killed when it proceeds toward the sound.
• The elephant becomes attached to the sense of touch, and while mating, falls into a trap, oblivious of the danger.
• The moth is attracted by the sight of fire, and unwittingly gets burned while rushing into it.
• The fish, hungry for the bait, eagerly jumps up to bite into it, and gets caught.
• The honeybee, intoxicated by the fragrance of the flowers, gathers honey and stores it in its hive; it is subsequently destroyed when humans set fire to the hive to obtain the honey.

Through this verse, Shankara dissuades human beings from forming a strong attachment to the body, which leads to relentless sensory pursuits.

Chapter 2 – Happiness

Key concepts:

Happiness is the goal of all human pursuits. We turn away from anything that we dislike, that causes sorrow and discomfort (duhkha nivritti); we chase after anything that we like or find agreeable, that provides comfort and joy (sukha praapti).

At the collective level of nations and governments, as well as the individual, we are constantly trying to change, manipulate and rearrange things in the outer world to secure a more comfortable, happy life. However, it is not possible to:

a)  make everyone happy, because individual likes and dislikes vary

b) whatever changes we make in the outer world cannot last

We are always discontented due to two factors:

·        Excessive preoccupation with the body and the senses

·        Expectations about situations and people

Material success does not equate to happiness, as evidenced by the lives of the rich and famous leading unhappy, dysfunctional lives.

The ancient Vedantic masters have examined and analyzed where happiness is located.  We experience joy through our sense organs , therefore we believe that joy lies in the sense objects. For example, when we hear pleasing, melodious music that come through our ear, we think the music brings us joy. We think we can be happier if we get more of the objects our senses crave. We still find that it does not increase our happiness/ If joy were located in the objects, then an object should provide the same amount of joy to anyone who comes into contact with it – we know this is not the case. As the saying goes, “one man’s nectar is another man’s poison”.

Happiness is a state of mind.

·        When the mind is agitated, we feel sorrow and stress

·        When the mind is calm, we feel happy

Happiness is measured by the tranquility of the mind. Of course, sense objects can bring us happiness – although this is fleeting. The capacity of achieving happiness lies within us. We do not have to look outside, nor be dependent on objects, to be truly happy. We can achieve this goal by learning to quieten the mind.

A mind full of desires is an agitated mind. Happiness =

number of desires fulfilled

number of desires entertained

We can increase our happiness quotient in two ways:

·        Increasing the numerator (Caution: fulfilling more desires will give rise to new desires, increasing the denominator, and leading to decreased happiness)

·        Decreasing the denominator