Those Bound by the Senses are Destroyed by the Senses
There are a vast number of sense objects in the world, but you should see to it
that your senses do not come into contact with too many of these. They are all
impermanent things. By becoming captivated with small things your whole life
becomes small and impure. You can see this in a number of living beings which
are victims of one or two senses. For example, when a deer hears some melodious
music, it becomes fascinated by it and can easily be captured. Therefore, a deer
is bound by sound. A huge elephant can be controlled through the sense of touch
and therefore becomes bound by touch. In this way a number of animals can be
bound and controlled through different sense organs. Take for example a moth.
When it sees light it gets strongly attracted to it; it becomes bound by the
light and may be destroyed by it. In a similar way, a fish will swallow the
bait and gets caught because it is bound by taste. And a bee will enter a
flower and be bound by the power of smell; there it can
get trapped for the night when the flower closes its petals.
Each one of these beings is bound by one of the sense organs; but man is bound
by all five of them and, therefore, he is even more vulnerable than all these
animals. Here is a small story:
Once upon a time a great sage undertook a tour of the country. He considered
each one of the five elements as his teacher. Once he happened to go to the
shore of the ocean; he was enjoying the waves and the various aspects of the
ocean. As he was watching, along came a wave and brought some debris to the
shore. He noticed that the moment any dross fell into the ocean the waves came
and pushed it back out. The sage thought to himself, 'Why should the ocean
which is so deep and vast find it necessary to throw out this little bit of
filth? Could it not allow even such a small impurity to remain with it?' Then
he went into meditation. In that meditation he understood that if the ocean
were to allow any impurities to stay in its waters, these impurities would
accumulate day by day and, in time, cover the whole ocean and pollute it. He
decided that the ocean must have resolved not to allow any debris or impurity
to come into it from the very beginning; in that way it had been able to
remain clean and pure.
In the same way, right from the start, you should see to it that impure thoughts
and ideas do not enter your mind, even in a small way. Not even the minutest
impurity should be allowed to enter your heart. Before such an impurity can
establish a foothold, you must immediately throw it out. If you give room to
it, thinking that after all it is only a very insignificant thing and it cannot
really harm you, then it will start growing in the heart. Therefore, if you
understand the functioning of the senses and learn to limit them to the right
use for which they were intended, then you will be able to benefit from them
and not be disturbed by them. If instead, you allow the senses to rule you and
bind you, neither joy nor peace of mind will be yours. Here is another small
story to illustrate this.
http://www.atmapress.com/saibabagita/saigita166.html
Sai Baba Gita, Compiled and edited by Al Drucker - Published by Atma Press -
http://www.atmapress.com - ISBN: 0963844903Online Edition:
http://www.atmapress.com/saibabagita/index.html
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