81. वशीकृतेन्द्रियग्रामः Vaśīkṛtendriya-grāmaḥ

One who had subjugated the host of senses

‘Indriya-grāma’ refers to the host of sense organs, namely ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose. It is a fact that a degree of sense-control is imperative even to achieve worldly success. When this is so, its importance in spiritual life can scarcely be overemphasized. The Śruti says, “The Lord rendered defective the senses, whereby they see what is outside and not the innermost Ātman. Some resolute man who desires to see the Ātman, turns His sight inwards, seeking immortality.”²²⁴ The senses thus only lead one away from the path of liberation. This is why sense-control is one of the hexad of attributes required in spirituality (vide nāmas 38 and 98), and forms the fifth limb of yoga, pratyāhāra (vide nāma 76).

To facilitate freeing people from the clutches of the senses, Bhagavatpāda drives home the perspective: “The deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the bee perish because of their attachment to sound, touch, sight, taste and smell respectively. What then is the fate of man who is attached to objects of all the five senses!”²²⁵ The deer perishes, stupefied as it becomes by the sound of the hunter’s conch; the powerful wild tusker loses its freedom by getting lured by the touch of a trained she-elephant; attracted by the sight of light such as a flame, the moth rushes head on into it and perishes; the fish, succumbing to the sense of taste, grabs the bait attached to the hook of the angler’s fishing line and perishes; the bee sits savouring the aroma of a lotus, gets trapped in it at nightfall and meets its end when elephants run riot in the pond. When this is the lot of beings that are enslaved by just one sense, there can possibly be no room for doubt regarding the lot of man, who is a slave of all five senses.

In fact, the Lord gives an insight into the power of the senses when He says, “O Arjuna! The powerful senses lead astray the mind of even a learned man endowed with discrimination and striving.”²²⁶ He then teaches, “Having subdued them all, one should remain concentrated, deeming Me as the Supreme. The wisdom of the one who has his senses under his control is firmly established.”²²⁷ His Holiness had His senses ‘vaśīkṛta’, under His control. Indeed, He was a thorough master of His senses.

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One day, His Holiness sat down in a coconut grove and asked a disciple to read out the first 50 verses of Vidura-nīti (comprising Vidura’s moral advice to Dhṛtarāṣṭra) and select compositions of Bhagavatpāda. As the disciple began chanting verses from the Vidura-nīti, His Holiness partially closed His eyes. When the disciple came to the 22^nd verse, he heard a swishing sound. Before he could react, a big leaf-stalk and a coconut fell from a tree in the vicinity and landed on the ground with a big thud less than a metre from His Holiness. So concentrated was He on the import of the verses that He was totally oblivious of what had happened.

After reading from the Vidura-nīti, the disciple passed on to the compositions of Bhagavatpāda, such as Manīṣā-pañcakam and Brahmānucintanam. His Holiness listened motionless, with a light smile. He opened His eyes only a few moments after the disciple had finished. Suddenly, He winced in pain. Unseen by the disciple, and unfelt by His

214 82. Vāgdevī-samupāsakaḥ Holiness, an army of ants had been biting Him on His legs and hands. His Holiness’s feet were red and swollen.

He knew by rote the verses that He had asked the disciple to read out and had Himself mentally recited them on hundreds of occasions. Yet, He concentrated upon them with such intensity that He remained totally unaware of even loud extraneous sounds and injury to His body. This was the kind of control that His Holiness had over His mind, body and senses.

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