यथा श्रुतं वेदविदां वर त्वया
जनोऽयमुच्चैः पदलङ्घनोत्सुकः ।
तपः किलेदं तदवाप्तिसाधनं
मनोरथानामगतिर्न विद्यते ॥
yathā śrutaṁ vedavidāṁ vara tvayā
jano’yam uccaiḥ pada-laṅghanotsukaḥ |
tapaḥ kiledaṁ tad-avāpti-sādhanaṁ
manorathānām agatir na vidyate ||
(Kumāra-sambhava: 5.64)
[Parvatī speaking to a sādhu:] “O knower of the Veda, what you have heard is correct. This person [i.e., I] is intent upon attaining a high position [i.e., that of the wife of Lord Śiva], and this austerity [I am performing] is indeed the means of attaining that. [Since it is such that] Desires have no unapproachable object.”
Commentary
The final line of this verse, manorathānām agatir na vidyate, is often cited as an independent saying. The word for desire, manoratha, literally means, “the mind’s chariot,” and conveys the idea that desires are like something that the mind rides upon (manaso rathaiva, ref., Śabda-kalpa-druma). There word agati means aviṣaya according to the commentator on the Kumāra-sambhava Mallinātha Sūri. It thus has been rendered above “unapproachable object.” The word agati, however, a negative form of gati, often evokes a spatial connotation. The poet’s choice of language can thus be see to contain the metaphor of desire being a chariot which acts to lead the mind towards all sorts of destinations, even those that are difficult or impossible to reach. The implication of this metaphor is that when one travels to physical places in a vehicle, one usually does not seek to reach a destination in a vehicle that the vehicle in unable of traveling to, yet the mind under the influence of desire still seeks to pursue all sorts of objects, including those that are difficult or impossible to ever achieve. The concept conveyed by the statement has thus been rendered by Manmath C. Mallick in his work Orient and Occident as follows:
“There is nothing to which desire does not aspire; desire does not confine itself to the measure of the aspirant’s capacity.”
Read in this way, the point being made is that nothing, even the difficult and impossible, lies beyond the reach of desires.
The effects of this nature of desire are mixed. It can lead people to pursue and sometimes accomplish impressive achievements, but when unguided by spiritual principles, it can leave them perpetually pursuing objects in saṁsāra that can never truly satisfy them, regardless of how great they may seem in the mind’s estimation.