Verse 45 of 68
Harināma Kīrtanam · Verse 45
ഢക്കാമൃദംഗതുടിതാളങ്ങൾ പോലെയുട-
നോർക്കാമതിന്നിലയിലിന്നേടമോർത്തു മമ
നിൽക്കുന്നതല്ല മനമാളാനബദ്ധകരി-
തീൻകണ്ടപോലെ ഹരിനാരായണായ നമഃḍhakkāmṛdaṁgatuṭitāḷaṅṅaḷ pōleyuṭa- nōrkkāmatinnilayilinnēṭamōrttu mama nilkkunnatalla manamāḷānabaddhakari- tīnkaṇṭapōle harinārāyaṇāya namaḥ
“Like the drums and small percussions following each other in beat, to remember the six stations of the body, my mind will not stand still. It is like the elephant tied at the post who has just seen its food. Salutation to Hari Nārāyaṇa.”
The forty-fifth verse holds one of the work's most honest self-reports about the difficulty of meditation. Like the drums and small percussions following each other in beat, to remember the six stations of the body, my mind will not stand still. It is like the elephant tied at the post who has just seen its food. The verse names two images: the impossibility of mind-stillness in the face of constant inner-rhythm, and the elephant straining at the post toward food. The seeker is, with humor and honesty, naming his own restlessness during the practice that verse 44 prescribed.
If you have come to this verse with a meditation practice that has not been peaceful, with a mind that strains and runs even when the body sits, the verse is for you. The verse does not pretend the practice is easy. It only asks the Lord to recognize the elephant.
The Living Words
Ḍhakkā-mṛdaṅga-tuḍi-tāḷaṅṅaḷ-pōle uḍa-nōrkkām atin-nilayil innēḍam-orttu mama nilkkunnatalla manam āḷāna-baddha-kari tīn-kaṇḍa-pōle Hari Nārāyaṇāya namaḥ. Like the ḍhakkā (drum), mṛdaṅga (double-headed drum), tuḍi (small drum), and tāḷa (cymbals) following each other, when I try to remember the six stations, my mind will not stand still. It is like the elephant tied at the post (āḷāna-baddha-kari) who has just seen food. Āḷāna is the post elephants are tied to; baddha-kari is the bound elephant; tīn-kaṇḍa-pōle is like the food-seen-one.
Scripture References
The mind is restless, turbulent, strong, and stubborn; to restrain it is as hard as restraining the wind.
चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम् । तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ।।
cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham | tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye vāyor iva su-duṣkaram ||
The mind is restless, Krishna; it is turbulent, strong, and stubborn. To restrain it, I think, is as hard as restraining the wind.
Arjuna's Sanskrit voicing of the same difficulty the verse-45 elephant-at-the-post image names. The verse companions the Sanskrit complaint with affection: even the warrior at the Lord's chariot cannot still the mind alone.
The Heart of It
The verse uses two precise images. The first is from temple-music: the simultaneous pounding of multiple drums and cymbals, each in its own rhythm, all converging at the tāḷa-circle. The mind, the verse says, is like a drummer trying to remember the six chakra-stations while six different rhythms are pounding around him. The remembering keeps slipping.
The second image is the elephant tied at the post who has just seen food. The body is bound (the seat is established, the āsana is held). But the mind has caught sight of something it wants and is straining at the post. The Sanskrit āḷāna-baddha-kari is the canonical image of the bound but not still state: outwardly the practice is in place, inwardly the mind is in motion.
The Bhagavad Gītā, in its sixth chapter, names this exact difficulty in Arjuna's voice. Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham; tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye vāyor iva sudhukaram. The mind is restless, Krishna; it is turbulent, strong, and stubborn. To restrain it, I think, is as hard as restraining the wind. Krishna's reply (Gītā 6.35) is the same one verse 44 anticipated: abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate, by practice and detachment, it is brought under control. The verse-45 manam nilkkunnatalla (the mind will not stand still) is Arjuna's complaint in Malayalam.
If you have come to this verse with a meditation history of distraction and slipping, the verse offers the same companionship the Gītā offers Arjuna. You are not alone in this. Even the warrior who is hearing the Lord's own voice cannot keep the mind still. The bow is what the seeker can offer when the mind cannot.
Outwardly the practice is in place, inwardly the mind is in motion.
The Saints Who Walked This Road
Two saints whose lives included the verse-45 mind-elephant problem.
Arjuna (already in verse 16) is the Sanskrit-canonical voicer of this problem. In Bhagavad Gītā 6.34, mid-conversation with Krishna, he names his own mind as cañcalam, pramāthi, balavad, dṛḍham: restless, turbulent, strong, stubborn. He compares the task of restraining the mind to restraining the wind. Krishna's reply (abhyāsa-vairāgyā-bhyāṁ) names practice and detachment as the way. The body image is the warrior on the chariot-floor, the bow set down for the moment, the honest naming of the mind that has refused to settle even as the Lord himself stood before him.
Sant Tukārām (already in verses 25, 27, 29), in many of his abhangas, names exactly the verse-45 elephant-at-the-post condition. He describes himself as cañcala, distracted, his bhajan sometimes carrying him and sometimes not. He does not pretend the practice has been smooth. The body image is the grocer at the Indrāyaṇī riverbank, the cymbals on the lap, the abhanga arriving on a good day and not arriving on a bad one, the saint continuing to sit either way.
The Refrain
ഹരി നാരായണായ നമഃ
Salutation to Hari Nārāyaṇa.