Mahabharata — Ashvamedhika Parva, 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 said: “There are tastes and qualities that please, and fragrances that please as well. There is sweetness, sourness, and pungency. There are also qualities such as clarity, compactness, unctuousness, dryness, and purity.”
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.