Hidden Treasure Series-Part XVII- On Senses

My dear friends,

For long I used to wonder if I have become a slave to sensual pleasures. I still wonder how to overcome. To some extent I have succeeded. Today am able to enjoy my morning Tea or Orange juice without sugar thereby relishing the original taste of the Tea or the Orange.

Ravi: Shri. GRK, what are senses?

GRK: Senses are the gateways of pleasure in life. They-eyes, ear, nose, tongue and body-are the means through which we derive all our pleasures. After all, pleasures are integral part of life. All pleasures seeing beauty, hearing music, smelling fragrance, tasting delicacies, and touching (through body) are the thrill of life.

Ravi: Abusing sensual pleasures have brought sorrows as well in my life, though I have realized it. Hope am not too late.

GRK: Better late than never, my boy. You see, unfortunately, the senses, instead of being the gateways of pleasure, have become the pathways of sorrow and misery in man’s life.

Ravi: Any particular reasoning?

GRK: Man does not only use his senses in a natural and spontaneous way for deriving pleasure. But also abuses them to indulge in the latter. Often he misuses, abuses and over uses all his senses including body to indulge in the so-called pleasure, which is not natural to him and which is also harmful to him. No other animal over eats as man does. Neither any animal indulges in over sex as man does. Perhaps man is the most wildest animal who violates all the natural laws of life and the rhythm of life.

Ravi: You sound harsh to human-kind. Why do we do that?

GRK: Sorry for sounding harsh. Look, we have built the civilization and the so-called culture, which glorifies indulgence in desires; this so-called civilization through its constant advertisement and propaganda (through mass media) creates and instigates the unlimited desires (for consumption) in man. They persuade him indulge in these desires through the gadgets and aids of mass production. In this consumerist society, many of us cannot differentiate between the essential needs, rather needs of survival, and the artificial needs or secondary needs, thus all of us are chasing over the satisfaction of wants and desires. Nobody has time to pause, look back and think.

Ravi: So, have not senses become sources of sorrow?

GRK: Yes. we abuse our senses to indulge in advertisement created needs. So, senses become the means of man’s sorrow and thus his enemies. In this pleasure-hunting life and gadget-based economy, we are lost in “living”. Hence no question of life and its joy nay the thrill. We are lost in information gathering, and no question of wisdom. We are lost in sensual gratification and no question of joy of life for us. Thus, senses have become enemies of mankind. Having been abused, they bring only sorrow for us.

Ravi: What’s the way out Guru?

GRK: Self-realisation is the only way, I guess. Till then…

Folks, as I said earlier, I have indeed abused my senses for pleasure and it was about to turn into sorrow. But self-introspection and self-realisation made me master the so called sensual pleasures. However I have a long way to go in not succumbing to other desires. After all, am human, right!

Love

Ravi