Shloka 24
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
अत: परं प्रवक्ष्यामि सर्व विविधमिन्द्रियम् । पादावध्यात्ममित्याहुर्ब्राह्मणास्तत्त्वदर्शिन:
ataḥ paraṁ pravakṣyāmi sarva-vidhidam indriyam | pādāv adhyātmam ity āhur brāhmaṇās tattva-darśinaḥ ||
Vāyu nói: “Nay ta sẽ giảng tiếp về các căn (indriya) trong mọi phương diện sai biệt. Các bậc Bà-la-môn thấy chân lý tuyên rằng ‘đôi chân’ phải được hiểu dưới ánh sáng của adhyātma—nguyên lý nội tại của tự ngã.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse introduces an adhyātma (inner, spiritual) interpretation of bodily and sensory terms: Vāyu signals a systematic explanation of the indriya (sense-faculty) and notes that truth-seeing brāhmaṇas interpret even concrete body-parts like the ‘feet’ through an inner-self framework, encouraging symbolic, self-knowledge-oriented reading rather than merely literal anatomy.
Vāyudeva is speaking as an instructor, transitioning to a further section of exposition. He announces that he will explain the indriya in its various forms and cites the authority of tattva-darśin brāhmaṇas, setting up a teaching that reads bodily terms (here, ‘feet’) as markers within an adhyātma doctrine.