Yayati: A Classic Tale of Lust (Library of South Asian Literature)

by Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar

In human life, the soul is the passenger, the body the chariot, conscience the charioteer and mind the reins. The different senses are the horses, all the items of enjoyment are the roads, and the soul with senses and the mind attached to it has to use them. If there is no chariot, where will the soul sit? How will he get to the battlefield of life quickly? How will he fight the enemy? Therefore, one must not underrate the importance of the chariot i.e., the body. Yati made that unpardonable mistake. The senses are the horses of this chariot. Because without them, he cannot move at all. If the horses are just harnessed to the chariot, there is no knowing when they will run amuck and the chariot be thrown into a deep chasm and be smashed to smithereens. Therefore, the horses in the form of senses must be controlled by the reins, i.e. the mind. But even these reins must always be in the hands of the charioteer. Otherwise they might as well not be there. Therefore, the mind must be under the control of the conscience. The mind and the conscience working together can regulate the chariot with caution. The ‘I’, an infinitesimal part of God, which wakes up in all of us and which pervades all beings ... which transcends conscience and mind and can also see beyond life and death ... the soul itself is the passenger in the chariot.

soul....