SAUNDARANANDA 13.31: On Not Being Forever Smitten

bhetavyaM na tathaa shatror
n' aagner n' aaher na c' aashaneH
indriyebhyo yathaa svebhyas
tair ajasraM hi hanyate

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13.31
There is less to fear from an enemy

Or from fire, or from a snake, or from lightning,

Than there is from one's own senses;

For through them one is forever being smitten.

DUST & FLUFF:
When I look back on experiences of being smitten in particular by female form, scent, feel and sound, this verse rings all too true.

Speaking of being smitten, in the two weeks that I have been enjoying myself here alone by the forest, I have ventured out to the shops only once. But the French girl who took my money at the petrol kiosk was a sight for sore eyes. For a moment I stood there, to use one of Ashvaghosha's metaphors, like a charmed snake. As I drove away, I felt happy to be of an age where actively chasing such beauty is no longer a compulsion. I hope I was more like a gardener appreciating the beauty of a healthy young plant, than a hungry man surveying a sandwich. But the episode reminded me that I am not immune to being struck by lightning and the rest.

If a descendant in the lineage of Ashvaghosha is tempted to throw away his integrity, out of greed, can he be a true descendant of Ashvaghosha? And if he is not a true descendant of Ashvaghosha, without a sound base in integrity, what kind of movement might he found? Honestly not knowing the answer to these questions, which maybe only time can answer, I am carrying on with solitary sitting practice and this translation work, guided I hope by understanding of Alexander's principle of integrity. The general principle might be that if its foundation lacks integrity, a structure is liable before long to collapse.

Peter Blythe, a true pioneer in understanding the importance of vestibular reflexes, described the vestibular system as "the foundation stone of living." If the foundation stone is wobbly, I figure, it might be better to sit happily in a small shed rather than precariously atop a high tower.

When I speak of sitting happily in a small shed, I am not only speaking metaphorically: I built a small shed for sitting at the bottom of the garden of the house where the Cross family lives in Aylesbury. The foundations of that shed, though, are not at all wobbly, being several inches of concrete. While I was in the process of laying those foundations, working without a light as darkness fell, a cement mixer fell off its stand and its handle whacked me squarely in the middle of the forehead. I bear the scar to prove it. But the pain I suffered then was as nothing compared to the pain I suffered as a lusty young guy when separated from the object of my emotional and sensory craving.

Whereas my battered skull somehow resumed its already somewhat lopsided shape within a matter of weeks, those feelings have taken years and years and years even to begin to fade. Thus it is, and thus it ever was. How to thwart the power of such feelings through the practise of integrity is a problem I have been struggling with for 30 years. The way that a young man's mind works is such that he feels that once his sensual desire has been consumated, everything will be all right. But the truth is that the pull of the senses can never be thwarted relying on sensory means. As soon as we fall back on the senses, we are smitten. In this sense, we are forever being smitten. Only by desiring to follow a means that by-passes feeling can we prevent ourselves, moment by moment, from being smitten.

Later in this canto the Buddha gives advice on looking at all sensory stimuli without attachment or aversion. I haven't got that far yet. But the Buddha has told us already where to go for refuge, whenever lightning may strike, and it is not necessarily under a tree. That said, living alone by the forest is definitely a help, as the Buddha will also indicate in Canto 14.

EH Johnston:
A man should not so fear an enemy, fire, a snake or a thunderbolt as he should his own senses ; for the latter are ever aggressive.

Linda Covill:
for one's own senses, ever injurious, are more to be feared than an enemy, a fire, a snake or a thunderbolt.

VOCABULARY:
bhetavya: mfn. to be feared or dreaded
na: not
tathaa (correlative of yathaa): so, so much as
shatroH = ablative of shatru: m. enemy

na: not
aagneH = ablative of agni: m. fire
na: not
aher = ablative of ahi: m. snake
na: not
ca: and
ashaneH = ablative of ashani: f. the thunderbolt , a flash of lightning

indriyebhyaH = ablative, plural of indriya: sense
yathaa: as, as much as
svebhyaH = ablative, plural of sva: one's own

taiH (instrumental, plural of saH): by them
ajasram: ind. perpetually , for ever , ever
hi: for
hanyate = 3rd person singular passive of han: to strike , beat ; to smite , slay , hit , kill , mar , destroy ; to hurt, wound ; to obstruct , hinder