s as the operating
cause, become generated in Consciousness in consequence of the mind
co-existing with attachments.[744] In consequence of the past thoughts of
sound that are awakened in it, the Soul, subjected to such influences,
receives the organ of hearing. Similarly, from attachment to forms, its
eye is produced, and from its longing after scent its organ of smelling.
From thoughts of touch it acquires the skin. In the same way the
five-fold breaths are acquired by it, viz., Prana, Apana, Vyana, Udana,
and Samana, which contribute to keep the body agoing. Encased in body
with all limbs fully developed in consequence (as shown above) of past
acts, the Soul takes birth, with sorrow, both physical and mental, in the
beginning, middle, and end. It should be known that sorrow springs from
the very fact of acceptance of body (in the womb). It increases with the
idea of Self. From renunciation of these (attachments which are the cause
of birth), sorrow meets with an end. He that is conversant with sorrow's
end attains to Emancipation.[745] Both the origin and the destruction of
the senses rest in the attribute of Passion. The man of wisdom should act
with proper scrutiny with the aid of the eye constituted by the
scriptures.[746] The senses of knowledge, even if they succeed in earning
all their objects, never succeed in overwhelming the man that is without
thirst. The embodied Soul, by making its senses weak, escapes the
obligation or rebirth."'"[747]

SECTION CCXIV

"'Bhishma said, "I shall now tell thee what the means are (for conquering
the senses) as seen with the eye of the scriptures. A person, O king,
will attain to the highest end by the help of such knowledge and by
framing his conduct accordingly. Amongst all living creatures man is said
to be the foremost.

"'"Among men, those that are regenerate have been called the foremost; and
amongst the regenerate, they that are conversant with the Vedas. These
last are regarded as the souls of all living creatures. Indeed, those
Brahmanas that are conversant with the Vedas are regarded as all-seeing
and omniscient. They are persons who have become conversant with Brahma.
As a blind man, without a guide, encounters many difficulties on a road,
so has a person destitute of knowledge to encounter many obstacles in the
world. For this reason, those that are possessed of knowledge are
regarded as superior to the rest. Those that are desirous of acquiring
virtue pract