Fight among the senses

 

Fight among the senses

Chandogya Upanishad

Many a time we take things that God has given us for granted. We do not appreciate its value. It could something as simple as our organs, our health or our skin. The beauty of creation is the specific role each of these play in our day to day life. Not caring for one doesn’t affect only that part. For example, over eating does not affect only our stomach. It has a bearing on our heart. There is a cute story in the Upanishads to teach us the importance

 In Sanatana dharma, we consider the five karmendiryas (organs of action) and five gnanendriyas (organs of perception) as a blessing from the divine. The organs of action are hands, legs, speech (vocal chord), the reproductive organs and the anus. The five organs of perception are eyes, ears, mouth, nose and skin. All these ten are important for the productive life of a human being.

 Once there was a ego tussle between the five gnanendriyas as to who was more important. As with all fights there was no solution. They went to Lord Brahma the creator and asked him to solve the problem. Brahma was amused knowing fully well that each of these organs had a role. But to teach them and the world a lesson he said “Why don’t each of you take a vacation? The organ without which a person cannot function at all is the most important.”

 

The organs thought it was a good idea. First the ears left. After some time they came back. They asked the others how they lived. The others said “We lived with our prana, our eyes, our mouth and thinking with the mind.” Next the eyes left. They came after some time and asked the others about their experience.

 

The others said “We lived in a dark world. Ofcourse we could hear, breathe and speak and think but it was not the same.” Next it was the turn of the faculty of speech. When that came back after a few months, the others said “We were not able to express our selves even though we saw with our eyes, heard with our ears, thought with our brains.”

 

Then the brain left. It came back after a few months. This time the eyes, ears and mouth could not even recollect how they lived as they lived a child like existence without much thought.

 

Finally, it was the turn of the nose or the prana to leave the body. All the other organs who were proud about their importance to a human panicked. They suddenly realised that even if they were in a person’s body and functioning well, without the life force or prana, they were nothing.

 

They went to prana with folded hands and said “Oh divine one. Forgive our arrogance. We did not realise that we only serve a divine purpose and our use is there only till a person has prana. We will be useless if you leave the body. Please forgive our mistake and don’t leave.”

 

Watching this Lord Brahma smiled and said “Creation takes many things into consideration. Do not think that the creation is dependent on you. You are dependent on creation. Everyone in this universe including the natural elements, the Devas, even Gods like me are just here to play a role and do our duty. We have no right to become arrogant about who and what we are.”

 

This small but cute story is a lesson that the Upanishads teach us a lesson on arrogance especially on things that can change like our physical power, beauty, intelligence etc.