Commentary on the Panchadasi: 12. Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday 31, July 2025, 19:00.
Books: Upanishads.
Commentary on the Panchadasi:12. 
Swami Krishnananda.
Discourse 3
Chapter 1: Tattva Viveka – Discrimination of Reality
Mantras 14-27
Mantram - 19 to22.
Post-12.

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Mantram - 19:

"Satvamssiḥ pancabhi steṣamm kramad dhin driya pancakam, 
śrotra tvagakṣi rasana ghraṇakhyam upajaate (19)." 

The sense organs, the sensations of knowledge—hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling, which are the prominent activities of our sense organs—are created out of the sattva portions of prakriti. Through tamas, the five elements are created. Through the sattva guna of prakriti, independently and individually taken, the sense organs are created as mentioned, and they are the reason for our perception of the world by hearing, by touching, by seeing, by tasting and by smelling. These are the only activities of ours in this world through the sense organs. They are created out of prakriti itself through its sattva guna, while the cosmic physical world is created out of the tamas quality of the same prakriti.

Tai rantaḥ karaṇaṁ sarvai vṛtti bhedena tad dvidhā, mano vimarśa rūpaṁ syād buddhiḥ syān niśca yātmikā (20). The internal organ, called the mind or chitta, is also consti-tuted of the total essence of the sattva gunas of prakriti. Individually taken, this prakriti sattva becomes the cause of the manifestation of the five sense organs. Collectively taken, it becomes the cause of the manifestation of the mind itself, which has four functions to perform, namely, thinking, self-arrogation, memory and intellection—known as manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara.

Mano vimarśa rūpaṁ syād. Manas, or the mind, does only the act of indistinct and indeterminate thinking. When we begin to feel that something is there in front of us but we cannot clearly know what it is that is there, it is called indeterminate thinking, which is the work of the mind. But when it is clear to us that it is a man that is standing there, or a tree is there, or a pole is there, that distinct and clear perception is the work of reason, or intellect, which is superior to the mind. Decision and determination are the functions of the buddhi—the intellect, or reason.

Mantram - 21:

"Rajoṁ'saiḥ pañcabhi steṣāṁ kramāt karmen indrayāṇi tu, vāk pāṇi pāda pāyupastha abhi dhānāni jajñire (21)". 

We have mentioned what happens with the tamas and the sattva of prakriti. Now there is something left, which is rajas. The rajas of prakriti becomes the cause, individually taken, of the organs of action, which are different from the senses of knowledge. The senses of knowledge are hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling. The organs of action are five more: speaking, grasping with the hands, locomotion with the feet, the genitals and the anus. These are the five organs of action, which are the operative locations of the pranas. The mind is not the cause here. The mind is directly connected with the senses of knowledge, whereas the prana is directly connected with the organs of action. Individually taken, this fivefold rajas guna becomes the organs of action that I mentioned.

Mantram-22:

"Taiḥ sarvaiḥ sahitaiḥ prāṇo vṛtti bhedāt sa pañcadhā, prāṇo'pānaḥ samā naśco dāna vyānau ca te punaḥ (22)". 

But collectively taken, this raja becomes the prana or the vital energy in us with its fivefold functions of prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. Prana works when we breathe out. Apana works when we breathe in. Samana works in the stomach, in the navel area, and causes the digestion of food. Vyana causes circulation of blood, and udana takes us to deep sleep and also causes deglutition of food when we eat. It also causes separation of the jiva consciousness from the body at the time of death. This fivefold function of the prana, known generally as prana, is the total cumulative effect of the rajas guna aspect of prakriti.

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Next
Mantram-23:
"Buddhi karmendriyaprāṇa pañcakair manasā dhiyā, śarīraṁ sapta daśabhiḥ sūkṣmaṁ talliṅga mucyate (23)".
Continued

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