The Snares of the Senses

Adi Shankaracharya talks about the danger that lurks in the five senses, which threatens all human beings. By identifying totally with the body and indulging in experiences through all the five sensory pathways, a human is vulnerable and worse off compared to the animals as the latter are enslaved predominantly by only one sense organ.

According to a Subhashita , an aphorism in Sanskrit;

kuranga matanga patanga bhringa
mina hatah pancabhireva pancha
ekah pramadi sa katham na hanyate
ya sevate panchabhih eva pancha

Kuranga, the deer is attracted to the sound of the flute played by the hunter and walks into the trap. The elephant (Matanga) aroused by the sensuous body ( touch ) of the female falls into the pit and dies.The moth ( patanga ) on seeing (sight) the bright light flies towards it and perishes. The bees ( bringa) are drawn to the scent (smell) of the flowers and get trapped as the petals close around the insect. The fish ( meena ) is unable to resist the taste of meat attached to the bait and gets caught.

The above is an example of what one sense organ can do. We humans have to contend with five of them. As a result we carry a greater risk than the animals and must never drop our guard.

Indirectly, the above maxim tells us that fatal attraction is a result of excessive indulgence which will lead to your destruction. Ati sarvatra varjayet.

This has been corroborated in the Bhagavadgita (2.67) and more than validates, what has been described above.

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