Who is not thrown out of his mental equipoise by the combined action of the three Gu˜as (modes of Prak¾ti) as by the synchronous derangement of the three humours of the body (which generally proves fatal to the victim according to the principles of yurveda)? None has escaped the stings of pride and arrogance. Who does not get wildly excited under an attack of fever in the form of youth and whose good reputation is not marred by worldly attachment? Who does not incur obloquy through envy and who is not shaken by the blast of grief? Who is not bitten by the serpent of care? And is there anyone in this world who is not overcome by MŒyŒ (the delusive potency of God)? Again, is there anyone so resolute of mind, whose body is not being consumed by desire as a piece of wood is eaten away by a wooded-borer? Whose mind has not been polluted by the threefold desire—the desire of progeny, the desire of wealth and the desire of fame? All these constitute the retinue of MŒyŒ, formidable and infinite in number, more than any can tell. Even Lord Ýiva and the four-faced BrahmŒ (the Creator) are ever afraid of these; of what account, then, are other creatures? (1—4)