What is that which is the most poisonous of all? A Sanskrit Subhashita or a proverb says that a snake is less poisonous than the objects of the senses. For the poison of the snake to get into one, it has to come all the way, make contact with its fangs and bite. The objects of the sense perceptions—sound, touch, form, taste and smell—however need not travel all the way towards us. Being where they are, they can exert their poisonous influence on the mind.
Sri Adi Sankaracharyaji’s student asks in the garland of gems of questions and answers—What is the poison of all poisons? The guru’s reply is in two words—all objects. How many objects are there in the world? We may look around and say countless. The texts conveniently give the number of objects for us to handle in a platter—just five. The object encountered by the sense of hearing is sound, the sense of sight is form, the sense of skin is touch, the sense of tongue is taste and the sense of nose is smell. If the object is a car—it falls very much in the sense of sight and touch and caters to the other three senses, too. If it is a food item, it is an object of taste. If it is music or conversation, it comes as the object of sound. In that way, the excesses of our sense organs may be controlled easily if we have the understanding of this simple classification.
The next question is—who is the one who is sorrowful always? One who keeps constantly thinking of the objects of this world is a sorrowful person. I recently happened to go to a textiles shop where there was a milling crowd of customers. As I observed the person at the sales counter, I found that handling matter through the day and almost through their whole career, their minds have become so dull that they are practically unable to respond with ease and agility.
Their focus day in and day out are only on objects, materials and all inanimate things. The bases for their interactions with people are also objects. When so much thought of dead matter has taken hold of the mind, the chances are very high that it loses its aliveness, charm and cheer. The sure way to be a sorrowful person in life is to have most interaction with things and the least interaction with people and nature around. Things including social media, mobile phones, computers, Internet, television, video games, audio systems and more! Who is a blessed person? The one who helps others is blessed because the one who is helped is happy and wishes the best for the one who helps. The very act of doing good to others helps humanity and the one who helps is also part of that same humanity. Who is the one who is worthy of worship? The sage, who is established in the knowledge that the divine self that pervades everything in the universe is right where he stands and functions from this knowledge at all times.
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