अविवेकास्पदा भ्रष्टाः कष्टे रूढा न सत्पदे । अन्धकूपमिवाऽऽपन्ना वराकाश्चक्षुरादयः ॥ ५ ॥
avivēkāspadā bhraṣṭāḥ kaṣṭē rūḍhā na satpadē | andhakūpamivā’’pannā varākāścakṣurādayaḥ || 5 ||
Translation
The eyes and the other senses, poor things, whose home is want of discernment, have fallen: grown up in misery, not on the true ground, they are like those who have fallen into a blind well.
Word by word
- avivēka
- want of discernment
- āspadā
- whose home is
- bhraṣṭāḥ
- have fallen
- kaṣṭē
- in misery
- rūḍhā
- (rūḍhāḥ) grown up
- na
- not
- sat
- true
- padē
- on the ground
- andha
- blind
- kūpam
- a well
- iva
- like those who
- āpannā
- (āpannāḥ) have fallen into
- varākāś
- (varākāḥ) poor things
- cakṣur
- (cakṣuḥ) the eyes
- ādayaḥ
- and the other senses
Meaning
The senses are pitied, not blamed: varākāḥ, "poor wretches". They live where there is no discernment (aviveka), they have fallen, and they have taken root (rūḍhāḥ) in what is painful rather than in what is real (satpada). The commentary: the senses of the undiscerning, long used to the world, are drawn to it wholly and not at all to the supreme; so they cannot help to raise the self, and they suffer like creatures fallen into a dry, dark well. The senses are not enemies by nature; they have been trained in the wrong place. The reader may consider that their own eyes and ears were taught, by years of habit, where to look and what to listen for, and can be taught otherwise.