SAUNDARANANDA 13.33: On Not Being Smitten (2)

na ca prayaati narakaM
shatru-prabhRtibhir hataH
kRShyate tatra nighnas tu
capalair indriyair hataH

- = - = - - - =
= = - - - = - =
= - = = - = = -
- - = = - = - =

13.33
Nor does one go to hell

When smitten by the likes of an enemy;

But meekly is one pulled there

When smitten by the impetuous senses.

DUST & FLUFF:
This alcohol tastes good, especially in combination with tobacco, and that woman's figure looks terrific and she seems to fancy me and what my girlfriend doesn't know won't hurt her...

This relatively blatant route to hell is a more obvious illustration of the verse.

Another more insidious route to hell follows the following track:

This way of holding myself in the correct sitting posture, keeping the spine straight vertically, was uncomfortable at first but with daily practice it has started to feel more and more right; and this view which my teacher has transmitted to me as True Buddhism, which is beyond the intellectual and sensory viewpoints of ordinary people, but which is centred on this supreme practice of just sitting in the correct posture: this also is beginning to feel very right...

Both of these are examples of being pulled meekly to hell when smitten by senses which are, by nature, impetuous or impulsive, not directly susceptible to reason.

And in both cases, a way not to be smitten might be to rely on an indirect means for maintaining integrity which allows faulty feelings, in the first instance, not to be engaged; and thereafter to be by-passed.

Overly loose morality is generally recognised to be rooted in impulsive sensuality. Nobody in recent times recognised more clearly than FM Alexander that the opposite of overly loose morality, being tight and right, is also the result of faulty sensory impulses.

Q. E. D.

EH Johnston:
And a man does not go to Hell when killed by foes etc, but he is dragged there helplessly when beaten down by the restless senses.

Linda Covill:
And a man slain by an enemy, for example, does not go to hell. But all docile is he pulled there when smitten by his restless senses.

VOCABULARY:
na: not
ca: and
prayaati = 3rd person singular of pra-√i: to come forth , appear; to go on , proceed , come to , arrive at , enter (acc.)
narakam (acc.): hell

shatru: enemy
prabhRtibhiH = instrumental, plural of prabhRti: commencing with
hataH (nom.): one who is struck, beaten, smitten , killed , slain

kRShyate = 3rd person singular, passive of kRSh : to drag , pull
tatra: there
nighnaH (nom.): dependent , subservient , docile , obedient
tu: but

capalaiH = instrumental plural of capala: moving to and fro , shaking , trembling , unsteady , wavering; wanton , fickle , inconstant
indriyaiH (instrumental plural): by the senses
hataH (nom.): one who is struck, beaten, smitten , killed , slain