SB 4.29.18, SB 4.29.19, SB 4.29.20, SB 4.29.18-20
TEXTS 18-20
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TEXT
देहो रथस्त्विन्द्रियाश्वः संवत्सररयो ऽगतिः ।
द्विकर्मचक्रस्त्रिगुण ध्वजः पञ्चासुबन्धुरः । मनोरश्मिर्बुद्धिसूतो हृन्नीडो द्वन्द्वकूबरः । पञ्चेन्द्रियार्थप्रक्षेपः सप्तधातुवरूथकः । आकूतिर्विक्रमो बाह्यो मृगतृष्णां प्रधावति । एकादशेन्द्रियचमूः पञ्चसूनाविनोदकृत् ॥ २० ॥ deho rathas tv indriyasvaḥ
samvatsara-rayo 'gatiḥ
dvi-karma-cakras tri-guna-
dhvajaḥ pancasu-bandhuraḥ
mano-rasmir buddhi-sūto
hrn-niḍo dvandva-kūbaraḥ
pancendriyartha-praksepaḥ
sapta-dhatu-varūthakaḥ
akūtir vikramo bahyo
mrga-trsnam pradhavati
ekadasendriya-camūḥ
panca-sūna-vinoda-krt
dehaḥ-body; rathaḥ-chariot; tu-but; indriya-the knowledge-acquiring senses; asvaḥ-the horses; samvatsara-total years; rayaḥ-duration of life; agatiḥ-without advancing; dvi-two; karma-activities; cakraḥ-wheels; tri-three; guna-modes of nature; dhvajaḥ-flags; panca-five; asu-life airs; bandhuraḥ-bondage; manaḥ-the mind; rasmiḥ-rope; buddhi-intelligence; sūtaḥ-chariot driver; hrt-heart; niḍaḥ-sitting place; dvandva-duality; kūbaraḥ-the posts for the harness; panca-five; indriya-artha-sense objects; praksepaḥ-weapons; sapta-seven; dhatu-elements; varūthakaḥ-coverings; akūtiḥ-attempts of the five working senses; vikramaḥ-prowess or processes; bahyaḥ-external; mrga-trsnam-false aspiration; pradhavati-runs after; ekadasa-eleven; indriya-senses; camūḥ-soldiers; panca-five; sūna-envy; vinoda-pleasure; krt-doing.
TRANSLATION
Narada Muni continued: What I referred to as the chariot was in actuality the body. The senses are the horses that pull that chariot. As time passes, year after year, these horses run without obstruction, but in fact they make no progress. Pious and impious activities are the two wheels of the chariot. The three modes of material nature are the chariot's flags. The five types of life air constitute the living entity's bondage, and the mind is considered to be the rope. Intelligence is the chariot driver. The heart is the sitting place in the chariot, and the dualities of life, such as pleasure and pain, are the knotting place. The seven elements are the coverings of the chariot, and the working senses are the five external processes. The eleven senses are the soldiers. Being engrossed in sense enjoyment, the living entity, seated on the chariot, hankers after fulfillment of his false desires and runs after sense enjoyment life after life.
PURPORT
The entanglement of the living entity in sense enjoyment is very nicely explained in these verses. The word samvatsara, meaning the progress of time, is significant. Day after day, week after week, fortnight after fortnight, month after month, year after year, the living entity becomes entangled in the chariot's progress. The chariot rests on two wheels, which are pious and impious activities. The living entity attains a certain position in life in a particular type of body according to his pious and impious activities, but his transmigration into different bodies should not be taken as progress. Real progress is explained in Bhagavad-gita.
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so 'rjuna "One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna." (Bg. 4.9)
One makes real progress when he does not have to take on another material body. As stated in Caitanya-caritamrta:
The living entity is wandering throughout the entire universe and taking birth in different species on different planets. Thus he moves up and down, but that is not real progress. Real progress is getting out of this material world altogether. As stated in Bhagavad-gita:
abrahma-bhuvanal lokaḥ
punar avartino 'rjuna mam upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate "From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (Bg. 8.16)
Even if one is promoted to Brahmaloka, the highest planet in the universe, he has to come down again to the lower planetary systems. Thus he is wandering up and down perpetually under the influence of the three modes of material nature. Being illusioned, he thinks he is making progress. He is like an airplane encircling the earth day and night, incapable of leaving the earth's gravitational field. Factually there is no progress because the airplane is conditioned by the earth's gravity.
Just as a king is seated on a chariot, the living entity is seated in the body. The sitting place is the heart, and the living entity sits there and engages in the struggle for existence, which goes on without progress perpetually. In the words of Narottama dasa Thakura:
karma-kanḍa, jnana-kanḍa, kevala visera bhanḍa,
amrta baliya yeba khaya nana yoni sada phire, kadarya bhaksana kare, tara janma adhaḥ-pate yaya The living entity struggles very hard due to the influence of fruitive activity and mental speculation and simply gets a different type of body life after life. He eats all kinds of nonsense and is condemned by his activities of sense enjoyment. If one really wants to progress in life, he must give up the ways of karma-kanḍa and jnana-kanḍa, fruitive activities and mental speculation. Being fixed in Krsna consciousness, one can become free from the entanglement of birth and death and the vain struggle for existence. In these verses the words mrga-trsnam pradhavati are very significant because the living entity is influenced by a thirst for sense enjoyment. He is like a deer that goes to the desert to search out water. In a desert an animal simply searches in vain for water. Of course there is no water in the desert, and the animal simply sacrifices his life in an attempt to find it. Everyone is planning for future happiness, thinking that somehow or other, if he can reach a certain point, he will be happy. In actuality, however, when he comes to that point, he sees that there is no happiness. He then plans to go further and further to another point. This is called mrga-trsna, and its basis is sense enjoyment in this material world.
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