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 ||
वायू म्हणाला—आकाशाचा गुण ‘शब्द’ आहे; तो श्रोत्रांनी ग्रहण होतो. श्रोत्रांत अधिष्ठित सर्व दिशा शब्दज्ञान व श्रवणास सहाय्यक म्हणून सांगितल्या आहेत.
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.