Shloka 37
Mind as Charioteer; Kṣetrajña, Tapas, and Dhyāna-Yoga
Adhyātma-Upadeśa
बीजधर्मिण इत्याहु: प्रसव॑ च प्रकुर्वते । विशेषा: पञ्चभूतानां तेषां चित्तं विशेषणम्,उन पाँचो भूतोंके विशेष कार्य शब्द आदि विषय हैं। उन विषयोंका प्रवर्तक चित्त है
bījadharmiṇa ity āhuḥ prasavaṃ ca prakurvate | viśeṣāḥ pañcabhūtānāṃ teṣāṃ cittaṃ viśeṣaṇam ||
Vāyu said: “They are called ‘seed-bearing’ because they bring forth generation. The five great elements have their own specific functions—such as sound and the other sense-objects—and it is the mind (citta) that sets those objects into operation and gives them their determinate character.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links cosmology and psychology: the five elements have distinct sense-objects (sound, touch, form, taste, smell), but the mind (citta) is presented as the operative principle that activates and differentiates these experiences, making perception and engagement with objects possible.
Vāyudeva is explaining a doctrinal point about creation and experience: beings are termed ‘seed-bearing’ because they generate offspring, and he then shifts to how elemental qualities become meaningful in lived experience through the functioning of citta.