Shloka 42
Mind as Charioteer; Kṣetrajña, Tapas, and Dhyāna-Yoga
Adhyātma-Upadeśa
इष्टश्वानिष्टगन्धश्व मधुरो5म्ल: कटुस्तथा | निहरि संहतः स्निग्धो रूक्षो विशद एव च
iṣṭaśvān iṣṭagandhaś ca madhuro 'mlaḥ kaṭus tathā | nihari saṃhataḥ snigdho rūkṣo viśada eva ca ||
Vāyu sprach: „Es gibt Geschmäcke und Eigenschaften, die gefallen, und es gibt auch Düfte, die gefallen. Es gibt Süße, Säure und Schärfe. Ferner gibt es Eigenschaften wie Klarheit, Dichte, Schlüpfrigkeit/Öligkeit, Trockenheit und Reinheit.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse catalogs sensory and material qualities—taste, fragrance, and texture-like attributes—suggesting a reflective, analytical approach to experience. In ethical-didactic context, such enumeration supports discernment (viveka): understanding how qualities arise and affect the mind helps one regulate desire and aversion rather than be driven by them.
Vāyudeva is speaking in a didactic passage, listing various tastes and qualities as part of an explanatory discourse. The narration pauses from action to instruction, using classification of qualities to illuminate a broader point about perception, disposition, or the nature of embodied experience.