Why Sagara’s Sons Were “Turned to Ash”: The Limits of Intellect

Question

Garuda told Anshuman not to be sad when Sagara’s sixty thousand sons were destroyed, saying that their death happened for the welfare of the world. Garuda represents a noble thought, and the sixty thousand sons represent the sixty functions of the intellect that you mentioned earlier. So, does this mean that all those functions of the intellect must be destroyed?

Answer

No, they are not actually destroyed—they simply become ineffective.

In the story, it says that the sixty thousand sons were “burned to ashes.” This doesn’t mean they literally turned to ash, as when wood is burned. The word bhāsm (ash) here means rendered useless or ineffective.

It signifies that the functions of the intellect—those various movements or operations of reasoning—become incapable of bringing back the horse, which represents the pure mind. In other words, theoretical knowledge alone cannot restore purity of mind.

You mentioned the sixty functions. Yes, in the Mahābhārata, I found a verse that says: buddhi-ṣaṣṭim guṇān viddhi — “There are sixty qualities or functions of the intellect.” The text explains that ten belong to each of the five great elements (mahābhūtas), making fifty, and five belong to the intellect itself. I shared this reference earlier. But rather than focusing on the exact number—whether sixty, or six, or any other number—the main point is symbolic.

The message is that intellect is theoretical; it is not practical or action-based. A person may be very intelligent, capable of analyzing and giving long discourses, even writing a thesis about truth or honesty. But that same person may not actually live those truths in daily life.

So the story is teaching us that if we try to purify the mind using only the intellect—through study, reasoning, and theory—it won’t work. To make the mind pure, we must live purity, speak the truth, practice honesty, and step away from greed and attachment. Purity has to be applied and embodied.

That’s the core teaching of this part of the story. The scripture beautifully explains the vast and subtle powers of the intellect—its capacity to analyze, reason, and understand—but then it clearly says: when it comes to purifying the mind, those same intellectual abilities cannot help. They become useless for that purpose.