Adi Shankaracharya. Vivekachudamani

 

 

“The brain, bones, fat, flesh, blood, skin, and semen are the seven factors that constitute the gross body.

So say those who know.

The feet, thighs, chest, shoulders, back, head, etc., are its members.

People regard it as ‘I’ owing to the mind’s

attachment to it. It is the primary attraction to all, and the most obvious.

It is made up of ether, air, fire, water, and earth which, as the subtle essences, form sense objects, and the groups of five such as sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell.

The ego (jiva) being intent on pleasure, regards these as means of enjoyment. Foolish and ignorant persons are bound to sense objects by the rope of desire, attracted according to the power

of their karma which leads them up and down and causes them to wander in distress.

The serpent and deer die through

attachment to sound,

the elephant through attachment to touch,

the fish through attachment to taste,

and

the bee throughattachment to smell.

If these die through attachment to a single

sense, what must be the fate of man, who is attached to all five?

The evil effects of sense objects are more harmful than the poison of the cobra, because poison only kills him who

takes it, whereas sense objects bring destruction to him who sees them or even thinks of them.

He alone obtains liberation who,

with the sharp sword of detachment,

cuts the strong rope of love for sense objects and so frees himself from them.

Otherwise, even though a man be well versed in all the six sastras,

he will not obtain liberation.

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