What is "shadurmi"

' Shadurmi' refers to the six emotional and physical feelings, which are - 1) '' pipāsā '' ('thirst'), 2) '' kshudhā '' ('pangs of hunger', 'appetite'), 3) '' śhoka '' ('sorrow', 'suffering') 4) '' moha '' ('temptation', 'infatuation', 'delusion'), 5) '' jarā '' ('old age'), and 6) '' mrtyu '' ('death'). These are the natural abiding emotions, and these are the six excitements of shadripu ('six enemies') or the six waves of shadurminadi.

Shankara refers to these six waves in his Vivekachudamani ( shloka 257) thus:-

षडभिरूर्मिभिरयोगी योगीह्र्दभावितं न करणैविभावितम् | बुद्ध्यवेद्यमनवद्यमूर्ति यद् ब्रह्म तत्वमसि भावयात्मनि || "That which is not affected by the six waves, which is meditated on in the minds of the yogins, which cannot be apprehended by the sense-organs, which is unknowable by the intellect, which is flawless excellence, thou art That. Meditate on It in thy mind."

Śri Candraśekhara Bhāratī of Śrngeri in his commentary explains that thirst, hunger, grief, delusion, old age and death, these six, though unconnected with Brahman, arise again and again, in as many waves; the first two i.e. thirst and hunger, belong to the prana, grief and delusion belong to the mind, and old age and death to the body.

Pipāsā or 'thirst', is same as craving which later word is not used in the positive context. Kshudhā or hunger, too has a negative connotation just as thirst. Śhoka or 'grief', according to Bharata, is a sthayi bhava ('basic emotion') of karuna rasa ('aesthetic experience involving pain'). Moha or 'delusion' is a main obstacle to attainment of liberation i.e. moksha. Jarā or 'old age' helps a sincere devotee become fearless and happy, for he then no longer fears death. And, according to Atharvaveda, Mrtyu or death, as the messenger of Yama, dominates the living beings, and Yama rules them after their death.