Verse 15
अङ्गं गलितं पलितं मुण्डं दशनविहीनं
जातं तुण्डम् ।
वृद्धो याति गृहीत्वा दण्डं तदपि
न मुञ्चत्याशापिण्डम् ॥१५॥
angaṁ galitaṁ palitaṁ muṇḍaṁ
daśanavihīnaṁ jātaṁ tuṇḍam,
vrddho yāti gṛhītvā daṇḍaṁ
tadapi na muñcatyāśāpiṇḍam.
(The
body has weakened; the head has turned grey; the mouth has become toothless; the
old man moves about with his staff. Even then, he does not give up his bundle
of hopes and desires.)
Many
people have been tricked into the belief that by fulfilling their desires they
will be able to bring them to an end. No one has been able to get rid of
desires by fulfilling them. That philosophy has deluded many people.
Initial
3 lines of this verse show the physical signs of over-indulgence in one’s body.
Man,
ignorant of his divine nature, binds himself to his physical identity and
starts glorifying his physical charm in his youth and when he crosses his youth
and steps into the next stage as a man.
Anybody
born in this world as a human being, must go through the six stages of
existence-birth-growth-disease-decay and finally death.
However,
a human being, when he / she reaches his 40s and then his 50s, they fail to
accept that their physical charm is diminishing and he is reaching the stage of
disease in the six stages explained above.
However,
the desire to enjoy even with such a derelict body does
not leave them and hence, they indulge in
efforts to look young, feel young, rejuvenate themselves, bolster their energy
levels with artificial drugs, etc.
People
will lift heaven and earth to find some way of enjoying pleasures. No one
accepts that decay, old age and death are part of the package we were born
into.
Instead
of finding satisfaction, people merely find addiction. Not only that, they lose
the power of their senses. Their bodies take the strain by appearing ragged and
aged years before the proper time.
Desires
can never end by fulfilling them. And the reason for the same is that desires belong
to the Mind, the mind can still be ‘young’ in an old body. Desires live with us
till death, and are taken with us into our next birth! For they are not a
function of the body but of the Mind.
Reaching
a step beyond the literal meaning of the verse, one has to address to all the
problem caused due to their mind.
Spiritual
sadhana in any of the path - Karma or Bhakti or Jnana - has to be pursued by man
not when he has to lean on others for support, as the verse says, but in his
young age, when he is physically strong and mentally capable and intellectually
sharp.
Mind
which takes him to the world has to be diverted and channelized towards God
through spiritual sadhana.
Love.
