Original in Kannada: Vid Narasimha Bhat
English Translation: K Mukunda
शॊकॊ नाशयतॆ धैर्य्ं शॊकॊ नाशयतॆ शृतम्
शॊकॊ नाशयतॆ सर्वम् नास्ति शॊकसमॊ रिपुः ││ रामायण्म्- 2.62.15
Śōkō nāśhayatē dhairyaṁ śōkō nāśayatē śrutam |
Śōkō nāśayatē sarvaṁ nāsti śōkasamō ripuḥ || Rāmāyaṇa 2.62.15
Meaning : Grief destroys courage, acquired knowledge and all the noble attributes of a person. Hence there is no enemy equivalent to grief.
Explanation : Grief signifies a depressed state of the mind. In this situation, the mind is not in its normal state. There are two states of mind viz. 'active' and 'withdrawn'. While active state indicates that the mind is associated with the senses, whereas the withdrawn state arises when the mind gets insulated from the senses and gets associated with the Atman or Divinity.
In the active state the Mind experiences all emotions related to the sensory world. The experiences in this state pose obstacles to the mind in its journey to the withdrawn state. Our mind gets into a state of gloom when the associated Senses do not realize their object of desire. This condition is termed Shoka i.e. Grief or Sorrow. In the above Shloka of Ramayana all the ill-effects of Shoka have been briefly enumerated.Mind concentrating on one issue is termed as Courage. This concentration is destroyed when the Mind is enveloped with Shoka. On losing the concentration, the grasping power of Mind is diminished. With the reduction of grasping ability, the power of retention gets destroyed. All this leads to loss of acquired knowledge. A person losing knowledge gets completely ruined. Hence Shoka is likened to an enemy. Just as an enemy destroys a person, Shoka destroys his personality. Hence we should not be over-powered by Shoka or Sorrow.
Note: The Kannada version of this article can be viewed at AYVM blogs.