Sensuality and Sensibility

Desire, it is said, is the root of all evil. But desire has been the prime motivating force for most actions of man through all times, be it conquest or love or revenge or even penance. To what extent can man satisfy his desires? Is there a limitation to desire? What can cure one infested with the desire disease? Devayani, the daughter of Shukracharya, the preceptor of the Daityas, was companion to the daughters of Vrishaparva, the king of the Daityas. One day, they were in the woods playing in a pool when a strong wind blew their clothes into a bundle. Mistakenly, princess Sarmishta wore Devayani's clothes to which the latter remarked: How can a disciple's daughter wear the clothes of the master's daughter? Sarmishta, angered by these words, retorted: Are you not the daughter of a beggar to whom my father doles out liberally? Though Devayani had not meant to hurt Sarmishta and did everything to placate her, the princess got more and more infuriated until at last she slapped Devayani and pushed her into a dry well and left with her sisters. Some time later, she was rescued by a young king, Yayati by name. Though not the practice for a Brahmana woman to marry a Kshatriya, Devayani insisted that she marry Yayati, as he had held her right hand. Shukracharya had to give her in marriage to the king. Moreover, Devayani reasoned with her father that Sarmishta was wrong in calling him a beggar and, to make amends, made her father talk to Vrishaparva into sending Sarmishta with her as her maid. Vrishaparva, hitherto unaware of the happenings, was appalled at the thought of incurring his preceptor's curse and made his daughter humbly follow Devayani. In the days that followed, Yayati and Sarmishta grew close and they married secretly. Soon, however, Devayani came in knowledge of this and went weeping to Shukracharya. The sage cursed the king: You shall lose your youth and become prematurely old! Yayati, terrified, begged of the sage to withdraw the curse. The sage, considering that Yayati was his own son-in-law, said: A curse once uttered cannot be revoked. However, you shall regain your youth if someone else takes upon himself your old age. Thus a prematurely old Yayati ruled for sometime but his yearning for sensual pleasures had not abated. His only hope were his five young sons whom he called one by one, and asked of them if they were willing to take upon themselves the wretched old age, the reward being the crown. The first four princes declined but the fifth son, Puru by name, said: Father, it would be of great pleasure for me to make you happy! Thus Puru turned old and ruled the kingdom while Yayati enjoyed all the pleasures of life. Not satisfied, he went to the kingdom of Kubera and indulged in the senses. After several years, Yayati realised that not all the indulgence could ever satisfy the senses any more than fire is put out by pouring ghee over it. He then returned to his kingdom and took back the old age from Puru. Yayati ruled the kingdom wisely and Puru, whose descendents were to be the players in the great Mahabharata, was the heir to the throne.

This is a story written by an Indian writer Yamuna Harshavardhana. Yamuna, a multifaceted woman, is an engineer by profession and a writer by choice, and wields the pen with passion and power. She was born in Chennai and spent her childhood there.

What exactly is evil in such desire? Evil is a state of mind which human intelligence has associated with the negative nature of being. Man has somewhat rounded off from the history of mankind all states of destruction, natural or artificial, as products of an intangible and gave it the name 'evil'. The notion of evil, therefore, is a creation of sensibility. Sensibility on the engagement of rationalizing reasons for tragedies, based on logical explanations and intuition. When we can't explain why a man can develop the tendency to destroy another man, we call him evil. When a terrorist threat is poised on a social establishment, we blame it on evil. Similarly, when a terrorist looks for a reason to command destructive acts, he finds only the reason to destroy evil. War is not a new phenomenon. Civilizations have been built and destroyed over a declaration of being evil. So what gives man the authority to call another evil? Though most ethnical/social groups have the same concept of good and evil, there are many grey areas which many have believed strongly in. 'Sensibility' is in itself a sensitive tool and we should be careful before we define this subjective notion.

Within the communities we live in, we find our laws written to prevent criminal acts, mainly involving behaviors of an individual resulting in harm to another. Murder, manslaughter and assault are deliberate acts of harm onto others. Theft, robbery and other greed-driven crimes are schemed acts to achieve personal gains at the expense of others. Another type of criminal activities protected by most legal systems are the street vices. Prostitution, drug trafficking and gambling are some common vices that do not deliberately cause harm to any individual (less some by-product criminal activities like loan-sharking, abduction and blackmailing) but are seen as the roots of many evil intentions hence are restricted.

These are precisely the kind of legally-sensitive activities that man has, based on his sensibility, associated with the notion of 'evil'. Vices that are not by direct intention malevolence in nature, but are mere indulgence in the sensual derivation of pleasure. Prostitution is in itself a service with the trade of the flesh. Drugs are products of human intelligence discovered to stimulate or opiate our senses. Even gambling is in itself simply a game involving eye perceptions and logical challenges. These activities are only different and are deemed evil when money are involved. Can we condone the existence of money and review the ethical value of street vices? Money is the very powerful evidence for human intelligence over other living beings and an icon of civilization. It would be hard to deny the meaning of money. Logically speaking then, these vices, sprouting from our sensual desires as a cause or result, are evil.

Biologically speaking, sensual desires are but only momentary. They involve flicks of nervous systems worked by chemical and electric pulses. We only think and feel the sensual pleasure because our brain built by our genetic codes recognizes pleasure. When our mind welcomes the pleasurable sensation experienced (usually in conjunction with the preceding fantasy or mental euphoric experiences on the spot), we desire more of. On the contrary, if a person's senses are to be constantly subjected to such pleasure, the pleasure receptors in our nervous system will be conditioned to perceive pleasure as norm. It is like a tolerance that our body can naturally build upon such conditioning that we may not feel the same level of pleasure over time. Even worse, addiction can happen and deprivation of the sensual pleasure can become unbearable.