Commonsense About The Senses

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Sunil, the municipal clerk, known for his drinking habit, was on his way to the office.
'Hello,' intercepted his colleague on the way. 'What happened to your ear?' he asked Sunil, pointing to the bandage wrapped around Sunil's right ear.

'Oh, that is nothing,' he explained, 'yesterday, I had taken a little more than the usual, and when I came home, I found the phone ringing. And then, someone at home had switched on the iron box, and I, wanting to answer the call, mistakenly picked up…'

'But what about the left ear?' asked the curious colleague.
'That fool of a man called up again,' regretted Sunil.
Repeating mistakes is nothing new. Most of us not only commit mistakes, we also do not learn from them. We thus keep repeating them until, perhaps, we learn our lessons. Nowhere is this more true than in understanding the nature of happiness.

Quest for Knowledge
The quest for happiness is as old as history. But like Sunil, we keep making mistakes, and blame the world for our unhappiness. Though this search for happiness is basic to life itself, few people discover lasting happiness in life. Hence, although everyone becomes happy for sometime or the other, no one seems to be perennially happy in life. One reason for this is, that the 'reasons' that produce happiness are themselves not lasting. What we generally call as happiness is caused by a reason—success in examinations, victory in a football match, a hike in salary, acquisition of property or money, admission to a coveted institution—we seem to have a long list of reasons to be happy.

But the circumstances change; rules undergo alterations; situations shift; youth becomes old; rich grow poor, and the poor grow rich. Change after all is the inevitable nature of life. Success in examination does not bring happiness always. Although our favourite football team wins the match, a business loss casts a gloom over the mind and we cannot enjoy the victory. We are promoted but along with it comes the jealousy and politicking of those deprived of it, followed by retirement. Like the shifting landscape in a desert, life keeps changing. This is what most people discover—after much hard struggle and bitter experience—this changing nature of everything.

If this changing nature of life is a reality—which indeed it is—what should we do then? Stop seeking happiness? Stop working? Stop eating, and stop living? Far from it. Sri Krishna advises us in the Gita,1 'Having got into this impermanent world made up of shifting, changing reasons for happiness, seek immortality.' He does not ask us to stop seeking happiness, but learn to seek a permanent source of happiness (and assures that it is possible). Until we learn our lessons, we shall be taught this truth again and again.

One theme that is dear to all teachers of spirituality is asking the aspirants to seek permanent happiness, and stop seeking happiness in the pleasures of the senses. This, of course, amounts to saying, look for a source which is more lasting, and thus higher. We often hear them saying this in different ways: control your passions, do not run after the objects of senses, practise self-control, overcome your desires, and so on. Since sensory experience is what most of us know about life, these words of advice sound astonishing, and often unpleasant to most people. 'Why control the senses? Why not live as one wishes to live? What is wrong in running after sense pleasures?' And finally, 'What shall we gain by controlling them?'

Before answering these queries and objections, it would be of much help if we understand what is meant by senses. This is very essential, for, understanding the nature and working of something is the first step towards using it meaningfully.

To Be Continued