Shloka 12

Brahmopadeśa on Saṃnyāsa, Tapas, and Jñāna (ब्रह्मोपदेशः—संन्यासतपोज्ञानविमर्शः)

Devanagari script

अव्यक्तयोनिप्रभवो बुद्धिस्कन्धमयो महान्‌ | महाहंकारविटप इन्द्रियाडुकुरकोटर:

Transliteration

avyaktayoniprabhavo buddhiskandhamayo mahān | mahāhaṃkāraviṭapa indriyāḍukurakoṭaraḥ

Translation

Vāyu-deva said: “This mighty (cosmic) tree arises from an unmanifest source; its trunk is formed of intellect (buddhi). Its great bough is the sense of ‘I’ (ahaṃkāra), and the hollows and cavities within it are the sense-organs.”

Word by Word

• अव्यक्त-योनि-प्रभवः: arising from the unmanifest as womb/source
• अव्यक्त-योनि-प्रभवः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रभव (प्र + भू) (प्रातिपदिक: प्रभव)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• बुद्धि-स्कन्ध-मयः: consisting of the trunk of intellect
• बुद्धि-स्कन्ध-मयः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मय (प्रातिपदिक: मय)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• महान्: great
• महान्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महत् (प्रातिपदिक: महत्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• महā-हंकार-विटपः: having the great ego as branches
• महā-हंकार-विटपः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विटप (प्रातिपदिक: विटप)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• इन्द्रिय-आडुकुर-कोटरः: with sense-organs as hollows/cavities (in the branches)
• इन्द्रिय-आडुकुर-कोटरः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कोटर (प्रातिपदिक: कोटर)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Wind-god)
• avyakta (the Unmanifest principle)
• buddhi (intellect)
• ahaṃkāra (ego-sense)
• indriyāṇi (sense-organs)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse maps inner psychology and cosmology onto a ‘tree’ structure: the unmanifest is the root-source, intellect is the stabilizing trunk, ego-sense is a major branching principle, and the sense-faculties are the hollows through which experience flows. Ethically, it points toward discerning these components, loosening identification with ego and senses, and cultivating discriminative wisdom (buddhi) as a basis for restraint and liberation-oriented conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is explaining a doctrinal model of embodied existence using a metaphorical tree. He identifies successive principles—unmanifest source, intellect, ego-sense, and the sense-organs—so the listener can understand how experience and bondage arise through the mind-sense complex.