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31THYTT-810.6 the ordinary man's (frequently unarticulated) bond with the beautiful in this life and also with the fear that one day this beauty will no longer be his. After he leaves the runof-the-mill world, he has moments of spiritual delight and self-assurance but he also realises how strong the pull toward the beauty spots, visayas, of this life is.
Now, there is not much that could be said to be unique or unusual in this tension. Spiritual leaders are constantly telling us to think of what comes after the pleasant sensual experiences, as well as of what a razor's edge the path one takes to transcend them is. Of the great literatures of the world, Sanskrit literature is particularly rich in this respect (which fact, in turn, explains its perennial appeal to some extent). What sets BH apart is the clarity with which he faces the dilemma of loving and leaving, the varied expression he gives to it, the tradition he has obviously created or strengthened unlike anyone else, and the heart-rending honesty with which he gives expression to his trials and tribulations. l-ching tells us that BH became a monk seven times and that each time he separated himself from the monks as soon as he realised that improper thoughts had begun to dominate his mind." This uncompromising nature of his pursuit is seen also in his description of sensual pleasures and of worldly systematic (śästra) knowledge. He wants the real, unalloyed, full 'stuff and he makes no effort to conceal or qualify his failures and limitations. I am not aware of any other Sanskrit poet in whose case we come so close to believing that a personal experience is finding expression in his compositions (cf. Miller 1967:xvii-xviii; 1990:6.)14
$ 3.2 At least 5 stanzas of the 200 that Kosambi collects first as found in all versions of the Sataka-traya (nos. 81, 84, 85, 88. 135) speak of what I have called the basic dilemma of life' as one would speak of a dilemma -- that
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