Shloka 33
Brahmopadeśa: Adhipatitva-kathana, Dharma-lakṣaṇa, and Kṣetra–Kṣetrajña Viveka
Book 14, Chapter 43
आकाश स्य गुणो होष श्रोत्रेण च स गृहाते । श्रोत्रस्थाश्व दिश: सर्वा: शब्दज्ञाने प्रकीर्तिता:
ākāśasya guṇo ghoṣaḥ śrotreṇa ca sa gṛhyate | śrotrasthāś ca diśaḥ sarvāḥ śabdajñāne prakīrtitāḥ ||
वायु ने कहा—आकाश का गुण ‘शब्द’ है, और वह श्रोत्र द्वारा ग्रहण होता है। श्रोत्र में स्थित समस्त दिशाएँ शब्द-ज्ञान और श्रवण में सहायक कही गई हैं।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states a classical tattva-doctrine: each subtle element has a defining quality, and for ākāśa (space/ether) that defining quality is śabda (sound). Sound is known through the śrotra (ear), and the ‘directions’ are poetically/physiologically linked with hearing as supportive conditions for auditory cognition.
Vāyu-deva is instructing the listener in a philosophical explanation of perception and the elements, describing how sound belongs to ākāśa and how the ear functions as the instrument by which that quality is apprehended.