Varaha Purana 98.23: Adhyaya 98, Shloka 23
Chapter on the Sacred Hill Episode: Satyatapā and the Marvel of Varāha
दृष्टं चक्षुर्निहितं जङ्गमेषु जिह्वा वक्तुं मृगयौ तद्विसृष्टम् ॥ द्रष्टुं चक्षुर्नास्ति जिह्वेह वक्तुं जिह्वायाः स्यात्तत्त्वतोऽस्तीह चक्षुः ॥
dṛṣṭaṁ cakṣur nihitaṁ jaṅgameṣu jihvā vaktuṁ mṛgayau tadvisṛṣṭam || draṣṭuṁ cakṣur nāsti jihveha vaktuṁ jihvāyāḥ syāt tattvato 'stīha cakṣuḥ ||
जङ्गमेषु चक्षुषि दृष्टिर्निहिता, जिह्वा तु वक्तुं विनिर्मिता—एवं तद्विसृष्टम्। जिह्वा न द्रष्टुं शक्नोति, चक्षुरिह वक्तुं न शक्नोति; तत्त्वतः जिह्वा जिह्वैव, चक्षुः चक्षुरेव।
Varāha (default narrator/instructor framework; explicit speaker not marked in fragment)
FAQs
It preserves a didactic common-place found across Sanskrit literature: the differentiation of sensory faculties, used to argue for order in nature and limits of perception.
No location is named; the verse is conceptual and physiological.
It implies disciplined discernment: each faculty has limits, so one should not confuse roles or claim capacities beyond one’s nature.
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