The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
50. manōrūpēkṣukōdaṇḍā 51. pañchatanmātra sāyakā 52. rāgasvarūpa pāśāḍhyā 53. krōdhākārāṅkuśōjjvalā
She who holds in Her hand a sugarcane bow that represents the mind.
She who holds the five subtle elements as arrows (touch, smell, hearing, taste, and, sight).
She who holds the rope of love in Her hand.
She who shines bearing the goad of anger.
Because of our dualist minds, we do not recognize the non-dual Self or ātmā that is ever present and shining in our body as the Universal Self that pervades everything. Instead of a homogenous vision that sees the universal, we have a heterogenous vision that sees particulars. Mind is a fragment of the Universal Consciousness. Although it is of the nature of Consciousness, it is not complete or universal because it is fragmented by vṛtti-s or thought-modifications. Like waves in an ocean, thoughts rise and subside in the mind endlessly, creating a fragmented vision.
Supreme Consciousness has entered and stationed Itself in the mind. The mind has been described earlier as chintāmaṇi, the jewel of Consciousness. Although Devī pervades everything, Her presence is felt most strongly in the mind or the intellect. However, only one in a million of seekers realize this. Even though the mind is our only means to realize the Truth, instead of using it for that purpose, we foolishly squander it on pleasures. To remind us about the nature of the mind, Devī holds a sugarcane bow in Her hand. The juice in the sugarcane is pleasure. But the cane is destructive. Like the sweetness that pervades every drop of the juice, thoughts pervade the mind. The more we extract and enjoy the sweetness of the sugarcane, the more our desire for it grows. Similarly, the more we indulge our mind and senses in pleasures, the more our desire grows. Desire and greed only increase if we keep trying to satisfy our mind and senses. That is why the mind is compared to a sugarcane.
Devī holds the mind like a bow in Her hand. The mind that seeks pleasure is the sugarcane bow in Her hands. Although it appears like a source of pleasure, the bow is a destructive weapon. Devi strings the bow with arrows and shoots them one after the other. These arrows are the five senses called the tanmātra-s – touch, smell, sound, form, and taste. Like arrows, they enter the mind through the senses organs and generate sensuous thoughts and feelings. Persisting thoughts, sensations, and emotions become strong tendencies (vāsanā-s) that give way to for even more stronger thoughts, sensations, and emotions. Devī strings the bow called the mind and shoots the arrows called thoughts and emotions. This is a vicious cycle. The mind is constantly pulled in multiple directions by the sense organs, which are also weapons in the hands of Devī.
Besides the bow, Devī holds two other weapons in Her hand – a rope (pāśaṃ) and a hook (aṅkuśam). The rope stands for desires (likes) and the hook stands for anger (dislikes). Devī binds us with the rope and pierces us with the hook. Likes and dislikes are the cause for the pleasures and pains we experience in life.
These four nāma-s clearly describe what bondage is. Desires activate the senses. Senses activate the mind. The activated mind turns towards objects to satisfy the desires. If the results of its actions are satisfactory, it experiences pleasure. If they are not satisfactory, it experiences pain. Hence, likes and dislikes are bondage.
What do the tools that Devī holds in Her four hands signify? That the mind and sense organs, likes and dislikes, are in the hands of Devī. We have no control over them. Because we lack the knowledge of the Self, we are born as prisoners and continue to live as prisoners of our mind and sense organs. As long as we are ignorant (lack the Knowledge of the Self), Devī will continue to shoot Her arrows at us. If we pray to Her in earnest to rid us of the disease called ignorance, She will withdraw Her weapons and bestow Knowledge. She can free us from saṃsāra or entrench us deeply in it. It is to reveal the truth that Knowledge alone can free us from saṃsāra that Devī is described as holding four powerful weapons in Her hands.