Shloka 11
कर्मविद्या-भेदः
Karma–Vidyā Distinction: Paths of Bondage and Release
वायोरपि गुणं स्पर्शमाकाशं ग्रसते यदा । प्रशाम्यति तदा वायु: खं तु तिषछतति नादवत्,इसके बाद आकाश वायुके गुण स्पर्शको भी ग्रस लेता है। तब वायु शान्त हो जाती और आकाशकमें मिल जाती है; फिर तो आकाश महान् शब्दसे युक्त हो अकेला ही रह जाता है
vāyor api guṇaṃ sparśam ākāśaṃ grasate yadā | praśāmyati tadā vāyuḥ khaṃ tu tiṣṭhati nādavat ||
Vyāsa explica la retirada progresiva de los elementos: «Cuando el espacio (ākāśa) absorbe incluso la cualidad del tacto (sparśa) propia del viento (vāyu), el viento se aquieta y se disuelve en el espacio. Entonces sólo queda el espacio, caracterizado por el sonido (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.