Mahabharata — Ashvamedhika Parva, Shloka 54
Mind as Charioteer; Kṣetrajña, Tapas, and Dhyāna-Yoga
Adhyātma-Upadeśa
एवं दशविधो ज्ञेयः शब्द आकाशसम्भव: । षड़्ज, ऋषभ, गान्धार, मध्यम, पञ्चम, निषाद, धैवत, इष्ट (प्रिय), अनिष्ट (अप्रिय) और संहत (श्लिष्ट)--इस प्रकार विभागवाले आकाशजनित शब्दके दस भेद हैं ।।
evaṁ daśavidho jñeyaḥ śabda ākāśasambhavaḥ | ṣaḍja ṛṣabha gāndhāra madhyama pañcama niṣāda dhaivata iṣṭa (priya) aniṣṭa (apriya) ca saṁhata (śliṣṭa) iti—evaṁ vibhāgavān ākāśajanitaḥ śabdo daśadhā | ākāśam uttamaṁ bhūtam ahaṅkāras tataḥ paraḥ; ahaṅkārāt paraṁ buddhiḥ, buddher ātmā paraḥ; ātmanaḥ param avyaktā prakṛtiḥ, prakṛter api paraḥ puruṣaḥ |
Wika ni Vāyu: “Ang tunog na nagmumula sa kalawakan (ākāśa) ay dapat maunawaan na may sampung uri: ang pitong nota (ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha, gāndhāra, madhyama, pañcama, niṣāda, dhaivata), kasama ang kaaya-aya, ang di-kaaya-aya, at ang pinaghalo o pinagsamang tunog. Kaya ang tunog na isinilang sa kalawakan ay nahahati sa sampu. Ang kalawakan ang pinakadakila sa mga elemento; higit sa kalawakan ang ahaṅkāra (pagkamakasarili, ‘ako’); higit sa ahaṅkāra ang buddhi (talino); higit sa buddhi ang ātman (sarili); higit sa ātman ang di-nahahayag na Kalikasan (avyaktā prakṛti); at higit sa Kalikasan ang puruṣa (ang Kataas-taasang Persona).”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage links sensory experience to metaphysics: sound is rooted in ākāśa and can be classified (musical notes plus affective qualities), and it then presents a hierarchy of principles—ākāśa < ahaṅkāra < buddhi < ātman < unmanifest prakṛti < puruṣa—guiding the listener from the gross element toward the highest conscious reality.
Vāyudeva is instructing the audience in a doctrinal exposition: first defining and classifying ‘sound’ as an attribute arising from space, then expanding into a Sāṅkhya-like ordering of cosmic and psychological principles culminating in puruṣa.