Shloka 11
कर्मविद्या-भेदः
Karma–Vidyā Distinction: Paths of Bondage and Release
वायोरपि गुणं स्पर्शमाकाशं ग्रसते यदा । प्रशाम्यति तदा वायु: खं तु तिषछतति नादवत्
vāyor api guṇaṃ sparśam ākāśaṃ grasate yadā | praśāmyati tadā vāyuḥ khaṃ tu tiṣṭhati nādavat ||
Vyāsa erläutert das stufenweise Zurückweichen der Elemente: „Wenn der Raum (ākāśa) sogar die Eigenschaft der Berührung (sparśa), die dem Wind (vāyu) eigen ist, in sich aufnimmt, wird der Wind still und löst sich im Raum auf. Dann bleibt allein der Raum, gekennzeichnet durch Klang (nāda).“
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a hierarchy of subtlety: the air-element, defined by touch, subsides when its quality is absorbed into space, leaving space characterized by sound. Ethically and spiritually, it models how one should let grosser impulses and sensory engagements quiet down into subtler awareness, cultivating detachment and calm.
Vyāsa is describing a cosmological/psychological process of dissolution (laya): the quality of touch associated with wind is taken up by space; wind becomes tranquil and merges into space; thereafter space remains alone with its defining quality, sound.