इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते |
एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् || 40||
indriyāṇi mano buddhir asyādhiṣhṭhānam uchyate
etair vimohayatyeṣha jñānam āvṛitya dehinam
indriyāṇi—the senses; manaḥ—the mind; buddhiḥ—the intellect; asya—of this; adhiṣhṭhānam—dwelling place; uchyate—are said to be; etaiḥ—by these; vimohayati—deludes; eṣhaḥ—this; jñānam—knowledge; āvṛitya—clouds; dehinam—the embodied soul
Translation:
The senses, the mind, and the intellect are the seat of kama. Functioning through them this kama deluded the embodied by veiling the wisdom.
Commentary:
When a person wants to destroy an enemy he must, first of all, know what his stronghold is, and from which place he is attacking him. The stronghold of kama is the senses, the mind, and the intellect. With these under its power, kama veils the knowledge of Self and deludes mankind by attachment to the body and the material world. So the first step for the seeker is to bring the senses under his own control, by driving out kama from its stronghold. Then the mind becomes pure, and the discriminative intellect clear. When kama is thus driven out of its hiding place and feeding ground, it becomes weak and gradually dies for want of sustenance.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Beware, Arjuna, lust and anger are the great enemies. These are to be controlled. These cover the knowledge even of those [who are wise]. This fire of lust is unquenchable. Its location is in the sense-organs and in the mind. The Self desires nothing.[Source]
From ‘Discourses on Shri Ramcharitamanasa by Swami Tejomayananda’ —
Saints proclaim that where Śrī Rāma is, no desire for sensual pleasure exists and where the aspiration for worldly pleasure prevails, there Śrī Rāma is absent. Light and darkness cannot co-exist simultaneously at one and the same place.
We need to reflect on how we can fill our mind with Śrī Rāma. There is a secret to it. Just think, how does desire arise in the mind? When we perceive objects through the senses–as sound, touch, form, taste, and smell–the cause for desire manifests. That does not imply that desire will definitely arise but it becomes a distinct possibility. We may go to the mall to buy just one thing but exit with a trolley load of stuff. That is because once we enter the mall, we see this, that, and the other and the mind prompts us to buy them all. It is only when we go to the chemist to purchase medicine that we generally return with only that. Where did desire come from? From seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling; these are the gateways for the entry of desire.
Desire can awaken by the direct perception of objects through the senses. It can also be triggered by memory when the mind recollects earlier pleasurable experiences. The third source of desire is the intellect: thinking of and anticipating future pleasures. Such thoughts stimulate desire. Therefore, it is imperative to be extremely alert about what we see, remember, and think. Thus, to sum up, the senses perceive things in the present, the mind recalls pleasures enjoyed in the past while the intellect dwells on the pleasures sought after in the future.
Desires also have their own character, and the nature of the desire is dependent on the kind of thoughts entertained. One type is of an extremely tāmasika nature, which pertains to obscene and vulgar things. The sight of rājasika things will give rise to rājasika desires. Sāttvika memories such as that of Chinmaya Vibhooti, for example, will engender the sāttvika desire of revisiting that Centre. Tāmasika and rājasika desires create bondage. Here we are instructed that if such desires arise, for whatever reason, we should instantly start remembering Śrī Rāma. When we listen to the glories of the Lord there will be no desire for sensual pleasure; instead we will long for a vision (darśana) of Śrī Rāma. What is it that we seek to behold with our eyes? If it is the desire to see the temple of the Lord, then that desire will be fulfilled.
In the Bhagavad Gītā Śrī Kṛṣna tells us how desire arises in the mind–indriyāṇi mano budhirasyādhiṣṭhānamucyate, etairvimoha yatyeṣa jñānamāvṛtya dehinaṁ (3.40): The senses, mind and intellect are said to be the seat of desire. Through these, it deludes the embodied jivā by veiling his wisdom. We have five sense organs and five organs of action, that is, ten organs. In addition, we have the inner equipment of mind, (mana) intellect, (buddhi) memory (citta) and sense of individuality (ahaṁkāra). All together this makes for a total of fourteen gateways of desire. Understanding this is the secret of controlling desire.
The mind vacillates, the intellect decides, the memory recalls the past and then the ego says, “I want to enjoy this.” In other words, if in these fourteen desire-provoking locations of the personality we establish the longing for the attainment of the form and nature of the Lord, then the vāsanā for worldly enjoyment will gradually disappear. All that will remain in the heart of the seeker is love for God. And in such a heart the Lord will ever abide.
Of all the organs of perception, the eyes and the ears are the most powerful and exercise the greatest influence on us. That is why they are specially mentioned in the śānti mantra–bhadraṁ karṇebhiḥ śṛuṇuyāma devāḥ, bhadraṁ paśyemākṣabhiryajatrāḥ: O devas, with our ears may we hear all that is auspicious and with our eyes, see all that is auspicious. In comparison, what we see with the eyes is less than what we imbibe through the ears. Knowledge and information are, by and large, gained through listening rather than by seeing.
Question: What is the seat of kama?
Answer: The senses, the mind, and intellect together form the abode of Kama. With their aid, kama deludes man by veiling the wisdom of the embodied.
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