Maharishi Nārada continues, “This body is the chariot. The five sense organs are the five horses tied to the chariot. Righteous and unrighteous deeds are the two wheels for this chariot. The traits of goodness, passion and ignorance are its three flags. The five types of wind i.e. prana, apāṇa, vyāna, udāna and samāna are its 5 wires.
The sequential flow of time right from birth until death is the movement of the chariot. Mind is the rope for this chariot called body. Intellect (buddhi) is the charioteer. Heart is the place where the owner of the chariot (rathika) sits. The yoke which ties the pair of animals together are dualities of happiness and sorrows experienced in life.
The subtle sensory perceptions (sound, touch etc.) are the weapons retained in the chariot. The 7 tissues i.e. skin, blood, muscle, fat, bone, bone marrow and reproductive tissue are its 7 protective coverings. The five organs of actions have been explained as the chariot’s five distinct speeds and styles.
The five organs of action, five organs of perception and the mind is the army which accompanies him in the chariot. The individual unrighteously acquiring 5 different types of knowledge through the medium of the 5 organs of perception and deriving enjoyment through them has been explained as hunting accompanied by violence.
pañca-sūnā-vinoda-kṛt- The word Suna means ‘stove’. Broom, grinding stone, water pot, vessel for mixing the flour and stove are the 5 objects in the house. When these objects are used, the scope for harming other living beings exists.
The living being chases the mirage called worldly pleasures. This has been explained as hunting. Time flies fast. Chandavega, the Gandharva king, represents the period of one year, which is the unit for measuring time. The 360 days and 360 nights of the year have been explained as the Gandharva male and female attendants of Chandavega.
Day and night endlessly follow one another and reduce the lifespan of the person. Kālakanya Jara represents old age. No one likes old age. Yavana King is nothing but death. For the destruction of living beings he accepted Jara as his sister.
The physical and mental ailments within the body are the army of the Yavana King. Prajvāra represents the various fevers which rapidly cause destruction of the body. This Prajvāra is the brother of Chandavega.
In this manner, lacking discrimination the ignorant individual falsely considers his body to be his Self. For a hundred years he lives in the body tormented by adhyātmika, ādhibhoutika and ādhi-daivika ailments.
The truth is that the individual is none other than the eternal Self who is devoid of attributes. By imposing the attributes of the life-force, mind and senses on to this Self, the individual entity came into existence.
Due to feelings of I-ness and attachment towards his gross body, he is now a bonded soul. Due to ignorance he assumes he is the gross body and mistakenly believes that he is the one performing action. Seeking fulfillment of trivial desires, he performs frutive actions.
Inherently he is Self-effulgent. Absolutely no difference exists between the Supreme Lord, who is the Guru for all Gurus, and the Self which resides within the individual. However the ignorant person who is unable to comprehend this great truth develops deep inclination towards material pleasures which emerge out of Nature’s 3 attributes (trigunas of goodness, passion and ignorance).
The individual is deeply rooted in feelings of ‘I and mine’ towards the body and senses, which actually are the outcomes of the trigunas. Due to this egoism, he totally loses his freedom and bliss. Instead he gets trapped under them and begins to perform actions. These actions are influenced either by traits of goodness, passion or ignorance (trigunas). In accordance with the type of action performed, he gets another body. When the action is influenced by the traits of goodness i.e. when he performs pure actions, he is elevated to heavenly planets such as swarga. When actions are influenced by the traits of passion, he obtains human birth in earth planet which is accompanied by sorrows and difficulties. When the action is influenced by the traits of ignorance, he takes on birth as animals and birds which are in the mode of darkness and ignorance.
Thus in accordance with his actions the individual is reborn either as a celestial, human, animal or bird. Furthermore, based on these actions he can also be reborn as male, female or eunuch.
Unable to withstand pangs of hunger, the dog wanders all over the house searching for food. Sometimes it gets food, at other times it is beaten badly. Likewise the individual, whose mind is filled with limitless desires, travels endlessly between higher planetary systems such as heaven and lower planetary systems known as hell. Based on his destiny, he gets birth either in heaven, earth or hell and experiences joys or sorrows.
He has no escape from either the ādhyatmika, ādhi-daivika and ādhi-bhoutika afflictions. One affliction or the other torments him at any point of time. Any remedial measure undertaken to abate the affliction works temporarily.
The person who is carrying a very heavy load on his head shifts the load on to his shoulders so that his head gets some rest. Here it is obvious that the load has shifted from one place to another however the person has not got total relief from carrying the load. All these remedial measures undertaken to drive away afflictions are comparable to this load. The results of one fruitive action cannot be set off completely by another fruitive action. This is because, like a dream within a dream the feeling ‘I am the performer of the action’ exists within both the fruitive actions.
During a dream the person travels with the aid of the mind. Even though the sorrow experienced during the dream is unreal, he still grieves. Similarly sorrow is actually non-existent (mithya) in this world. Nevertheless, the agony that arises due to worldly sufferings is inevitable. Mādhavāya namah