Shloka 27

Adhyāya 302: Guṇa-vicāra, Gati-bheda, and the Imperishable State

Yājñavalkya–Janaka

Devanagari script

श्रोत्रं त्वक्‌ चक्षुषी जिह्ला प्राणमेव च पठचमम्‌ | वाक्‌ च हस्तौ च पादौ च पायुर्मेढ्रंतथैव च

Transliteration

śrotraṁ tvak cakṣuṣī jihvā prāṇam eva ca pañcamam | vāk ca hastau ca pādau ca pāyur meḍhraṁ tathaiva ca |

Translation

Vasiṣṭha nói: “Thính giác, xúc giác, thị giác, vị giác, và hơi thở sinh mệnh (prāṇa) là thứ năm—đó là năm căn tri. Lời nói, đôi tay, đôi chân, hậu môn và cơ quan sinh dục—đó là năm căn hành. Hỡi chúa tể cõi đất, sự sinh khởi của tất cả những điều ấy, cùng với tâm (manas), diễn ra đồng thời trong sự sáng tạo vật chất này.”

Word by Word

• {'śrotram': 'ear

• the faculty of hearing', 'tvak': 'skin

• the faculty of touch', 'cakṣuṣī (cakṣus)': 'eyes

• the faculty of sight', 'jihvā': 'tongue

• the faculty of taste/speech-organ (here: taste)', 'prāṇa': 'vital breath

• life-force', 'pañcamam': 'the fifth', 'vāk': 'speech

• the faculty of utterance', 'hastau': 'hands

• the faculty of grasping/doing', 'pādau': 'feet

• the faculty of locomotion', 'pāyuḥ': 'anus

• the excretory organ', 'meḍhram': 'generative organ

• organ of procreation', 'tathaiva': 'and likewise

• also', 'pṛthvīnātha': 'lord of the earth

• king (vocative address)', 'manas': 'mind

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vasiṣṭha
• pṛthvīnātha (the king addressed)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse classifies the human faculties into five organs of knowledge (hearing, touch, sight, taste, and prāṇa here counted as the fifth) and five organs of action (speech, hands, feet, anus, and generative organ), emphasizing that these arise together with the mind within material creation—pointing to an integrated psycho-physical constitution that must be understood for self-knowledge and restraint.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vasiṣṭha is instructing a king (addressed as ‘lord of the earth’) in a philosophical exposition typical of Śānti Parva, explaining how the senses and action-organs, along with the mind, originate as part of the material manifestation.