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The deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the honeybee - these five are annihilated because of their slavery to one or the other of the senses such as sound and so on, through their own attachment. What then is the condition of a man who is attached to all these five? (76)
We are now discussing how attachment to the senses bind, enslave and destroy the peace of mind and freedom of true living. At this moment Sankara very appropriately, reminds us of the various examples provided by nature where certain species meet their death due to extreme attachment to one or the other of the five senses.
The deer is always fascinated by melodious sound and the deer hunter sings to charm the deer. Attracted by the melody of sound, the deer has no awareness of the danger it is in and turns in the direction of the music, the hunter soon makes it his target. Therefore kuranga stands for sabda asa.
The elephants, especially in the mating season, become extremely attached to the sense of touch, rubbing against each other and walking without caution, they fall into the pits got ready to catch them. Therefore, elephant stands for sparsa asa, weakness for skin.
The moth is enchanted by form and attracted by the brilliance of the flame. It flutters towards it with an agonizing impatience and gets burnt. What we are taking advantage of is its weakness for bright light/lamp. Therefore rupa asa or rupa ragah.
The fish, ravenously hungry at all times, in its gluttony, swallows the bait, is caught and thus meets its end in the stomach of fish-eaters. And therefore, minam has got rasa asa, or rasa ragaḥ.
And then finally bhr̥ngaḥ vandu, the honey bee; it t is attracted by the smell of the flowers; and because of that it is captured by certain flowers; it closes during the night; when it is attracted, especially in the evening time; goes and sits there; and the flower closes and it gets trapped and the commentator says,
Again we do not know, we have to verify; that certain strong smell, like the smell of champaka flower that is so strong; that the bee will die because of the intensity of the smell; that the smell itself directly destroys that insect. Again, it has got what? gandha asa or gandah raga.
And therefore, each one of these animals dies because of its bondage caused by one guna; sabda guna; sparsa guna; rupa guna; rasa guna or gandha guna; that is said in the first line. pancha pancatvamapuh;
Pancha means these five animals; so these above mentioned five animals; pancatvamapuḥ; gets destroyed; they perish; because of what? svagunena baddhaḥ; and bound by their own weakness for one one guna only.
Now come to the fourth line, panchabhirancitaḥ kim; what to talk of the human being who has got all the five weakness? So ancitaḥ, ancitaḥ means associated with the panja asas. The five-fold attachment.
And this is not his mistake. Remember, this is not his mistake; these are all five natural instinctive weaknesses. So we have this weakness we need not feel guilty about their presence; the arrival is not because of it; it is instinctive. We are to be blamed if we are going to keep that weakness going. So therefore, perpetuation of the weakness is the mistake; the presence of the weakness is not our mistake.
If the weakness is there; we need not feel guilty; but we allow them to continue; we have to feel the guilt. Therefore, the presence is not weakness; perpetuation is the weakness. More in the next class.
When a man of ignorance, having neither discrimination nor detachment, vulgarly runs after sense objects for his temporary nerve tickling, he becomes a sad victim of his delusion and meets a calamitous end for he has allowed himself to be bound by the five strong ropes.
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