Shloka 21
अथ चेन्मन्यसे सिद्धिमस्मदर्थेषु नित्यदा । प्राणेन रूपमादत्स्व रसमादत्स्व चक्षुषा
atha cen manyase siddhim asmad-artheṣu nityadā | prāṇena rūpam ādatsva rasam ādatsva cakṣuṣā ||
ಮನಸ್ಸು ಹೇಳಿತು—“ನಮ್ಮ ಉದ್ದೇಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನೀನು ಸದಾ ಸಿದ್ಧಿ ಪಡೆಯುತ್ತೀಯೆಂದು ನೀನು ಭಾವಿಸಿದರೆ, ಇಂದ್ರಿಯಗಳ ಕ್ರಮವನ್ನೇ ತಿರುಗಿಸಿ ತೋರಿಸು: ಪ್ರಾಣದಿಂದ ರೂಪವನ್ನು ಗ್ರಹಿಸು, ಕಣ್ಣುಗಳಿಂದ ರಸವನ್ನು ಆಸ್ವಾದಿಸು।”
मन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that perception is constrained by the inherent capacities of each sense-organ; claims of effortless mastery are tested by asking for impossible cross-sensory perception. Ethically, it cautions against pride and urges disciplined understanding of how mind and senses actually function.
The speaker, Mind (manas), challenges an interlocutor who claims constant success in fulfilling aims. Mind proposes an absurd reversal—seeing through breath and tasting through eyes—to demonstrate that intention alone cannot make the senses perform each other’s functions.