________________
At this juncture, Sankara is discussing how dangerous it is for a seeker to have attachment for the enjoyment of sense-objects. He has already told us how tragic is the end of those living beings who have but a single sense-appetite. In order to bring this idea home to a seeker and to paint for us the virulence of the sense-poison, Sankara is giving yet another stanza. This stanza is very famous in-as-much as we often hear it from all pulpits.
Explaining the dangerous intensity of this poison, Sankara compares it with the venom of the cobra. If there is a distance between the cobra and the individual, it is clear that the poison in the cobra cannot affect the individual. Nobody is known to have died of poison because he merely saw a cobra in a zoo! The venom can be fatal to an individual only when he is bitten by the cobra. That it can be fatal only when the poison has affected the victim, is a limitation in the poisonous potency of the cobra. Compared with this, the sense-objects are more virulent, says Sankara, because, they can annihilate the individual even by looking at them. The mention of the 'organ of vision'' Cakṣuşa Apiin the stanza is a typical example; it indicates a similar end when all other sense-organs, individually or collectively, run after their sense-objects. How indulgence in each senseorgan brings about total annihilation has been shown in the previous stanza.
विषयाशा महापाशाद्यो विमुक्तः सुदुस्त्यजात् ।
स एव कल्पते मुक्त्ये नान्यः षट्शास्त्रवेद्यपि ॥ ७८ ॥
189
viṣayāṣāmahāpasādhyo vimuktah sudustyajāt sa eva kalpate muktyai nānyah ṣadṣāstravedhyapi 78.
विषय आशामहापाशात् - From the binding ropes desires for senseobjects, य: - he who, विमुक्त: - is liberated, सुदुस्त्यजात् so very difficult to renounce, स:- he, एव alone, कल्पते - becomes fit, मुक्त्यै - for liberation, न अन्यः - none else, षठशास्त्रवेदी अपि - even though he well-versed in all the six schools of philosophy.
-
