|| आशा ॥

॥ आशा नाम्ना मनुष्याणां विचित्रा पदश्रृंखला
   तेनबद्धार्प्रधावन्तिर्मुक्तास्तिष्ठन्ति मेरुवत्‌ ॥

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Phonetics:
|| Aashaa naamnaa manushyaanaam wichitraa padashrunkhalaa 
tena baddhaarpradhaawantirmuktaastishthanti meruwat ||

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Meaning:

This is one more classic from our doctrines of Philosophy of living excellence.
It talks about ' Aashaa ' literally meaning ' Hope '...
However as usual with many a word in the Sanskrit language, this word too has kaleidoscopic meanings like desire, ambition, expectation, aspiration, lust, and so on and so forth... here it is used in the sense of 'Lust for worldly pleasures and attainments.'
Oriental Philosophy of living excellence advocates about ' freeing oneself off the chain of worldly desires and lusts after achieving just enough to satisfy one's own minimum needs, before the lusts start driving the man. '
This verse says that ' lust is a queer chain tied to man's ankles by birth. Those chained down with it, start running (exerting themselves) to satisfy it , and those freed from it's clutches (with discriminative reflections), remain calm and steadfast  like a mountain. 

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-- RAVISHANKAR.
December 9th 2015.