Psalms 120:6 Meaning My Soul Has Had Her Dwelling Too

Vihāra: Dwelling A vihāra is both a place to live and a state the mind lives in. Sleeping among the tents of Kedar is one address; abiding night after night inside the quarrel is another, and it is the second that has worn the soul thin. Clothes hung too long in a smoky room carry the smoke out with them, and a mind lodged in hostility brings hostility into every room it enters afterward.

Pāpamitta: Bad company Pāpamitta is the companion who pulls you downward. Sharing a tent with someone who hates peace is a long lease rather than a visit, and over the years his quarrels become your vocabulary and his enemies your enemies. Handle charcoal all day and your hands blacken whether or not you meant to pick any of it up.

Vera: Enmity Vera is the feud two people keep alive between them. He hates peace, and answering his hostility in kind holds the account open for another year, since a fire given more wood keeps burning. Enmity ends where one side stops feeding it, and the one who is for peace already stands at that door.

Nibbidā: Having had enough Nibbidā is the turning away that arrives when something has worn out its welcome. "Too long" is its exact sound: the complaint has stopped being about this insult or that one and has become weariness with the whole arrangement. A traveler who has slept badly in the same inn for years stops arguing with the innkeeper and starts counting the miles home, and that is the first honest movement toward release.

Nekkhamma: Going forth Nekkhamma is stepping out of an arrangement you have outgrown. A soul that has dwelt too long is already folding its tent, and the road climbing up out of Meshech and Kedar runs toward the city whose name means peace. Striking camp helps only when the feud stays behind, since a man who moves house with his grudge loaded in the cart pitches the same dwelling on new ground.