Part 11: Sermon on the senses

After this hymn of praise, Śakra and Cakrāyudha became silent and Blessed Śrī Śāntinātha began a sermon.

‘This saṃsāra, consisting of four conditions of existence, is surely always the cause of a series of many painful things, alas! The passions: anger, conceit, deceit, and greed, are its special supports, like four pillars of a great house. When the passions are destroyed, saṃsāra itself is destroyed. A tree is dried up when its roots are dried up. No one is able to conquer the passions without conquering the senses. The dross of gold is not destroyed without a blazing flame. A creature is led instantly into the forest of hell by unsubdued senses that have dragged him, like unbroken horses running wild on the wrong road. A creature who has been conquered by the senses is defeated by the passions. Who can not tear down a wall whose bricks have already been taken away by heroes? People’s unsubdued senses are productive of destruction of the family, downfall, capture, and death. Who is not oppressed by the senses unrestrained by their own good? Even those who know the meaning of the śāstras behave like fools. What displays more clearly the contemptibility of the senses than the fact that Bharata hurled a weapon at his brother Bāhubalin?^[1] The victory of Bāhubalin and the defeat of Bharata—all that was the consequence of the senses conquered and unconquered. That they fought, weapon against weapon, even in the last birth—by that the power of the miserable senses is grasped.

Let men who are like animals be punished by their cruelly behaved senses; it is amazing that men who know the past, whose deluding karmas are suppressed, are punished (by their senses).^[2] Gods, demons, and men, completely conquered by their senses, wretched, commit disgusting acts, alas! They eat what should not be eaten, they drink what should not be drunk; they go where they should not go—people, subject to their senses. Devoid of conduct suitable for a family, beaten by the senses devoid of compassion, they commit the low acts of courtesans and slaves. Whatever the course of conduct is of men whose minds are blind from delusion toward others’ property and others’ wives, that is the consequence of wide-awake senses. Loss of a hand, foot, or sense-organ, and death are attained by persons because of subjection to the senses. What more is to be said? Persons who require respect from others, when they themselves have been conquered by the senses, are laughed at by the discriminating with their hands over their mouths. All creatures whatever in this world, from an Indra to a worm, are conquered by the senses, with the sole exception of the man free from passion.

The elephant, his trunk extended for the enjoyment of touching the female, immediately reaches a state of misery from being tied to aṇ elephant-post. The miserable fish, wandering in deep water, swallowing the prey that enters its throat, surely falls into the fisherman’s hand. The bee, longing for fragrance, lighting on the cheek of a rutting elephant, dies from a slap of the flap of the ear. The moth, confused by the sight of the flame resembling a piece of gold,^[3] falling in the fire from eagerness, receives death. The deer, wild to listen to a beautiful song, becomes the target of the hunter, whose bow is drawn back to his ear. If one sense-object alone serves to cause death, how can five at the same time not serve to cause death? The noble person should conquer the senses by purity of mind without which men’s bodily austerities with vows and lesser vows are useless.

Since the group of senses if unconquered is afflicted with pains, one should conquer the senses to obtain freedom from all pain. Refraining from action always is not a victory over the senses. Action of those free from love and hate, that is victory. It is not possible for the senses to avoid contact with a sense-object that has come near them, but the wise person would avoid love and hate for it. The senses of those always practising self-control are repressed or not repressed. They are not repressed in regard to beneficial objects. They are repressed in regard to unbeneficial objects. Subdued sense-organs lead to emancipation; but unsubdued ones lead to worldly existence. Therefore, knowing this distinction, one should do what is fitting.

Disregarding pleasure and lack of pleasures in the soft touch of cotton, et cetera, and the harsh touch of a stone, et cetera, one would be a victor over the sense of touch. Omitting completely like and dislike in the sweet taste of food, et cetera, or its opposite, one would be victorious over the sense of taste. If a pleasant odor, or the contrary, has reached the vicinity of the nose, the sense of smell must be conquered by one knowing the modifications of objects. If one has seen a beautiful form, or the opposite, one would conquer the sense of sight by abandoning delight and disgust. By overcoming pleasure and disgust in the sound pleasant to hear of the lute, et cetera, and unpleasant to hear of the donkey, camel, et cetera, one would be victorious over the sense of hearing. There is no sense-object here that is (inherently) beautiful or the opposite. That which is not enjoyed by the senses, does it not serve for comfort? Attractive sense-objects become unattractive; unattractive ones become attractive. So why should one be excited or disgusted by the senses? If the sense-object itself should be fundamentally pleasing or hateful, then surely there would be no desirability nor undesirability of inclinations, in reality. A person, whose senses have been subdued by purity of mind and then whose passions have been destroyed, soon reaches emancipation which has imperishable delight.”