Shloka 10
Śuka’s Manifestation from the Araṇi (Āraṇeya-janma) — शुकजन्म (आरणेय-सम्भव)
नरश्रेष्ठ) देवता (श्रोत्र आदि इन्द्रियाँ) पितरों (पञ्चमहाभूतों) के पुत्र हैं अर्थात् सारी इन्द्रियाँ पजच-महाभूतोंसे ही उत्पन्न हुई हैं और वे समस्त चराचर जगत्का आश्रय लेकर स्थित हैं, ऐसा हमने सुना है ।।
naraśreṣṭha devatāḥ (śrotrādīndriyāṇi) pitr̥ṇāṃ (pañcamahābhūtānāṃ) putrāḥ santi; arthāt sarvendriyāṇi pañcamahābhūtebhya eva utpannāni, tāni ca samasta-carācarajagata āśrayaṃ labdhvā tiṣṭhanti—iti śrutaṃ naḥ. parameṣṭhī tv ahaṅkāraḥ sṛjan bhūtāni pañcadhā—pṛthivī vāyur ākāśam āpo jyotiś ca pañcamam; sraṣṭuḥ uttama-pade pratiṣṭhitaḥ ahaṅkāraḥ ākāśa-vāyu-tejo-jala-pṛthivīrūpāṇāṃ pañcavidha-bhūtānāṃ sṛṣṭiṃ karoti.
याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच—नरश्रेष्ठ, देवताः श्रोत्रादय इन्द्रियगणाः पितृपुत्रा इति कथ्यन्ते, पञ्चमहाभूतसमुद्भवत्वात्। तानि चराचरजगतः सर्वस्याश्रयेण स्थितानीति श्रुतम्। परमेष्ठिपदे प्रतिष्ठितोऽहङ्कारः पञ्चधा भूतानि सृजति—पृथिवीं वायुमाकाशमापो ज्योतिश्च पञ्चमम्॥
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage presents a cosmological account: the sense-faculties are said to arise from the five great elements, and the ego-principle (ahaṅkāra), positioned high in the creative hierarchy, generates the five elements (space, wind, light/fire, water, earth). It frames embodied experience as grounded in elemental nature and structured by the ego-principle.
In the Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Yājñavalkya explains to his listener a doctrine of creation and embodiment: how the senses relate to the elements and how ahaṅkāra functions as a proximate cause for the manifestation of the elemental world.