"The bonds of matter will be fourfold."
And again in the Srímad Mṛigendra—
"The enveloper-controller (mala), the overpowerer (rodha), action, and the work of Máyá,
"These are the four 'bonds,' and they are collectively called by the name of 'merit.'"
The following is the meaning of this couplet:—
(1.) "Enveloping," because mala exceedingly obscures and veils the soul's powers of vision and action; "controlling," because mala, a natural impurity, controls the soul by its independent influence. As has been said—
"Mala, though itself one, by manifold influence interrupts the soul's vision and action;
"It is to be regarded as the husk in rice or rust on copper."[147]
(2.) The "overpowerer" is the obscuring power; this is called a "bond" [or matter] in a metaphorical sense, since this energy of Śiva obscures the soul by superintending matter [rather than by itself partaking of the nature of matter].
Thus it has been said—