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CHAPTER XV, 12.
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make all mortals perform action, I will cast very sharp-edged arrows at the mind.
The mind said: These arrows, O Alarka! will not penetrate through me at all. They will only pierce your own vital part, and your vital part being pierced, you will die. Look out for other arrows by which you may destroy me.
Hearing that, he then spoke these words after consideration :
• Alarka said: Smelling very many perfumes, one hankers after them only. Therefore I will cast sharp arrows at the nose.
The nose' said: These arrows, O Alarka! will not penetrate through me at all. They will only pierce your own vital part, and your vital part being pierced, you will die. Look out for other arrows by which you may destroy me.
Hearing that, he then spoke these words after consideration :
Alarka said: Enjoying savory tastes, this (tongue) hankers after
"This and the other corresponding words must be understood to refer not to the physical nose and so forth, but the sense seated there. The nose here, for instance, stands for the sense of smell. Nilakantha understands all these words of Alarka as indicating the so-called Hasha-yoga, which, he adds, invariably occasions death. As to the throwing of arrows at the mind, he says, it means, 'I will subdue the mind by the restraint of the excretive organs by means of the Hatha-yoga.' And finally he says, 'A man, having restrained all the senses by means of the Hatha-yoga, merely droops away; becoming deficient in those senses, he does not accomplish his end.'
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