Shloka 43
Bhṛgu–Bharadvāja-saṃvāda: Vānaprastha-parivrājaka-ācāra, Abhaya-dharma, and Lokānāṃ Vibhāga (Śānti-parva 185)
अव्याहतैश्लेतयते न वेत्ति विषमस्थितै: । आप्याय्यन्ते च ते नित्यं धातवस्तैस्तु धातुभि:
avyāhataiḥ śrūyate na vetti viṣamasthitaiḥ | āpyāyyante ca te nityaṃ dhātavas tais tu dhātubhiḥ ||
Wika ni Bharadvāja: “Kapag ang tungkuling (pandinig) na kaugnay ng hangin ay hindi nahahadlangan at nananatiling wastong kaugnay ng tunog, naririnig at nauunawaan ng tao ang tunog. Ngunit kapag ang tungkuling yaon na may kaugnayan sa hangin ay napipigil—ng pader o ng salungat na agos ng hangin—at napapasa sa di-wastong kalagayan, hindi na natatanggap ang tunog. Bukod dito, ang mga sangkap ng katawan na nagsisilbing pinagmumulan at sandigan ng tunog at ng mga pandama ay patuloy na pinagyayaman ng mismong mga sangkap-elemento (bhūta) na iyon.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sense-perception depends on proper, unobstructed functioning of the elemental factors involved (here, the vāyu-related function enabling hearing). When conditions disturb that function, cognition fails; embodied experience is contingent and conditioned by the bhūtas and dhātus.
In a didactic exchange in Śānti Parva, Bharadvāja explains the mechanics of hearing: sound is grasped when the wind-related sensory function is unobstructed, but not when blocked by barriers or contrary air; he adds that bodily/sensory constituents are sustained by the elemental constituents.