Shloka 5
सप्तहोतृ-विधानम् एवं इन्द्रिय–मनःसंवादः
The Seven Hotṛs and the Debate of Senses and Mind
ब्राह्मण उवाच गुणाज्ञानमविज्ञानं गुणज्ञानमभिज्ञता | परस्परं गुणानेते नाभिजानन्ति कह्िचित्
brāhmaṇa uvāca | guṇājñānam avijñānaṃ guṇajñānam abhijñatā | parasparaṃ guṇān ete nābhijānanti kaścit ||
Der Brāhmaṇa sprach: „Die Qualitäten nicht zu kennen, ist wahre Unwissenheit; die Qualitäten zu kennen, ist echtes Unterscheidungsvermögen. Doch diese erkennen die Qualitäten des jeweils anderen in wechselseitiger Beziehung nicht wirklich — keiner erfasst den anderen vollständig.“
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
True ignorance is the failure to discern qualities (guṇas) correctly; true understanding is the clear recognition of qualities. The verse points to the limits of the senses: they operate in their own domains and cannot, by themselves, fully grasp one another’s nature—hence discernment must go beyond mere sensory functioning.
A Brāhmaṇa is instructing (addressing a प्रिय/‘dear one’ in the surrounding prose) on the meaning of ‘seeing’ as ‘knowing.’ He explains that recognizing a person/thing depends on recognizing its qualities, and he uses the mutual non-recognition among the sense-faculties as an illustration of why ordinary perception is limited.