“I have not read the Panchadasi,” said the devotee.
“Then I will tell you,” said Bhagavan, and proceeded to expound it:
“Present bondages are said to be of four types — ‘vishaya asaku lakshanam , ‘bhuddhi mandyam , ‘kutharkam and ‘viparyaya duragrahan’. The first of these means great desire for material things; the second, inability to grasp the teachings and expositions of the Guru; the third means to understand perversely the teachings of the Guru; the fourth is to feel egoistically that ‘I am learned in the Vedas’, ‘I am a Pandit’, ‘I am an ascetic’. These four are called present bondages. If it is asked how these can be overcome, the first can be overcome by tranquillity (sama), by curbing the evil propensities of the mind (dama), by detachment (uparat) and by indifference to external things (auksha). The second type can be overcome by hearing the teachings of the Guru over and over again; the third by reflection or
contemplation; and the fourth by profound meditation on