| Our reason must
be cleared of the delusions born of passions and desires. With unremitting attention, the
understanding must be made to control the mind and the senses. It is desire; it is
anger, issuing from the element of energy in nature. It is voracious and insatiable in its
hunger, the cause of all sin and error, man’s chiefest enemy. -Gita III-37 There is in the Kathopanishad a beautiful simile illustrating the
relations which exist between the soul, the body and the senses:
Know the soul to be the rider in the chariot, which is the
body. The intellect is the charioteer, and the mind the reins. The senses are the horses
and the desirable things of the world are the thoroughfare on which they career. If the
charioteer is unwise, and does not vigilantly restrain the mind, then the senses bolt
uncontrollably like wicked horses. If, on the contrary, he is wise and keeps a firm hand
on his mind, then the senses are in perfect control as good horses with a competent
charioteer. -Kathopanishad III-4, 5, 6, 7 |
