Upaniṣads · Bhāvanā p22
॥
Devanāgarī
शब्दस्पर्शरूपरसगन्धाः पञ्चतन्मात्राः पञ्चपुष्पबाणा मन इक्षुधनुः
Transliteración (IAST)
śabdasparśarūparasagandhāḥ pañcatanmātrāḥ pañcapuṣpabāṇā mana ikṣudhanuḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
शब्द-स्पर्श-रूप-रस-गन्धाःśabda-sparśa-rūpa-rasa-gandhāḥsound, touch, form, taste, smell
पञ्च तन्-मात्राःpañca tan-mātrāḥthe five subtle essences
पञ्च पुष्प-बाणाःpañca puṣpa-bāṇāḥthe five flower-arrows
मनः इक्षु-धनुःmanaḥ ikṣu-dhanuḥthe mind — the sugarcane bow
Traducción
Sound, touch, form, taste, smell — the five subtle essences, the five flower-arrows; the mind — the sugarcane bow.
Versión
1d96d58a03c4 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Here is an equation worth praising, for it is both precise and beautiful: the five objects of sense are five arrows, and the mind is the bow. Kāma's arrows were examined when reading the Tripurā-tāpanī (70), and it was said there that they signify the five ways a person is taken. Here the chief thing is added: the bow.
Without a bow, an arrow does not fly. Sound, sight, smell in themselves reach nowhere: they lie in the world, like arrows in a quiver. They fly when the mind releases them; and hence it is named the bow, not the eye or the ear.
This observation, to my mind, is the truest thing said in this whole book, and it is verified daily. The same sight pierces one person and not another; and the difference is not in the sight, but in whether the bow is drawn. The Vaiṣṇava side draws her usual conclusion from this, and here it suggests itself naturally. Removing the arrows is useless — the world is full of sights and sounds, and the quiver will not empty. The matter is the bow; and so all the work is transferred to the mind, not the senses. The Gītā says exactly this: "the mind is a friend to one who has conquered himself by the mind; but for one who has not conquered it, the mind remains in enmity, like an enemy" (6.6).
It is worth adding that the bow is called ikṣu-dhanuḥ, "sugarcane," that is, made of sugarcane. A bow of cane is a sweet and useless thing for battle; and there is an apt mockery in this: our mind is both sweet and unfit for the task.