Shloka 6
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
शब्द: स्पर्शस्तथा रूप॑ रसो गन्धक्षु पञजचम: । क्रिया: करणनित्या: स्युरनित्या मोहसंज्ञिता:
śabdaḥ sparśas tathā rūpaṃ raso gandhaś ca pañcamaḥ | kriyāḥ karaṇa-nityāḥ syur anityā moha-saṃjñitāḥ ||
Vāyu-deva said: “Sound, touch, form, taste, and as the fifth, smell—together with the sensory operations by which they are apprehended—are constant insofar as they belong to the causal (subtle) level. Therefore, even at the time of dissolution they do not merge away like gross things do. Those things that are impermanent and gross are designated by the name ‘delusion,’ for they mislead the mind into taking the transient as the real.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes the subtle, causal-level constituents (sense-objects and the sensory functions as rooted in subtle mind/causes) from gross, perishable manifestations. What is transient is labeled “moha” because attachment to it produces delusion; discernment of nitya vs. anitya supports detachment and clarity.
Vāyu-deva is instructing the listener in a philosophical register, explaining how perception works through the five sense-objects and their operations, and why gross impermanent things dissolve while subtler causal principles are treated as enduring in the context of pralaya.