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94
VIVEKACODAMANI
itself. Thus sound by itself is known to be the ruse to bind the deer. A mighty elephant wandering at will in the midst of a forest, is, caught by tempting it with the touch of a cow-elephant. That shows that touch alone is the means whereby elephants are caught. A moth is attracted to a flame by its brightness and goes to it to eat it. It falls into it not knowing that it will burn. But it is quickly burnt by it which shows that vision is the cause of its death. A fisherman wishing to catch fish uses a hook to which a piece of flesh is attached. Attracted by it and wanting to taste it, the fish takes the bait and is caught by the fisherman. The bee is attracted to the smell of campaka flower, and dies in the process of enjoying that fragrance. Thus each of sabda etc. leads these creatures to a fatal end. And, to infra-human creatures there is no question of sin (for, they have no obligatory duties). Yet, a great calamity overtakes such animals. By being a slave of these five senses, man fails to do his duty, and does what is prohibited for him. So, he comes to grief both in this world and in the next.
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Apart from sense-experience being a cause of death, the senseobjects kill when you simply see them and, as such, they are more deady than the poison of a king cobra. That is stated in this śloka.
दोषेण तीव्रो विषयः कृष्णसर्पविषादपि । विषं निहन्ति भोक्तारं द्रष्टारं चक्षुषाऽप्ययम् ॥७९॥ doşeņa tivro vişayaḥ kṣsnasarpavisādapi , visam nihanti bhoktāram draştāram cakşuşāpyayam 11
A sense-object is more virulent than the poison of a king cobra. The latter kills only him who swallows it; the former brings about the death of him who merely looks at it.
vişayah: sense-object: from etc. The poison of a king cobra can bring about the death of a person. But more fatal than that are the sense-objects which are more virulent. If a person is bitten in the leg or any other part of the body by a king cobra, the poison quickly travels thence to the tongue through the bloodvessels mixing with the blood in them. Hence the expression bhoktā. That is why in some cases, though bitten by a cobra on the leg, if a tight bandage is made at the spot, man does not die; because, there is no connection of that poison with the tongue through the nādis. Thus,
