Devanagari
श्रोत्रं चक्षु: स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च ।
अधिष्ठाय मनश्चायं विषयानुपसेवते ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
śrotraṁ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṁ ca
rasanaṁ ghrāṇam eva ca
adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaṁ
viṣayān upasevate
Synonyms
śrotram
—
ears
;
cakṣuḥ
—
eyes
;
sparśanam
—
touch
;
ca
—
also
;
rasanam
—
tongue
;
ghrāṇam
—
smelling power
;
eva
—
also
;
ca
—
and
;
adhiṣṭhāya
—
being situated in
;
manaḥ
—
mind
;
ca
—
also
;
ayam
—
he
;
viṣayān
—
sense objects
;
upasevate
—
enjoys.
Translation
The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
9. Taking shelter of the ear, eye, touch, tongue and nose, the jīva enjoys the objects of the senses.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
9. Taking shelter of the ear, eye, skin, tongue, nose and mind, the jīva enjoys the objects of the senses.
Purport
In other words, if the living entity adulterates his consciousness with the qualities of cats and dogs, in his next life he gets a cat or dog body and enjoys. Consciousness is originally pure, like water. But if we mix water with a certain color, it changes. Similarly, consciousness is pure, for the spirit soul is pure. But consciousness is changed according to the association of the material qualities. Real consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When, therefore, one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is in his pure life. But if his consciousness is adulterated by some type of material mentality, in the next life he gets a corresponding body. He does not necessarily get a human body again; he can get the body of a cat, dog, hog, demigod or one of many other forms, for there are 8,400,000 species.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Having gone into a body, what does he do? Taking shelter (adhiṣṭhāya) of the senses such as the ear and also the mind, he enjoys the objects of the senses (viṣayān), such as sound.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
For what purpose does he take the senses and go to the next body?
This jīva taking shelter of, or depending on the senses such as the ear, along with the mind, enjoys the sense objects such as sound. He takes the senses in order to receive the sense objects. The word ca indicates also (besides the knowledge senses mentioned in the verse), the action senses (hands, feet, voice, genital, anus), and the five life airs (prāṇa, apāna, udāna, vyāna, samana). The jīva takes shelter of all of these.
Surrender Unto Me
It's all grouped around the mind, that's why the mind is so important to be controlled. The particular set of senses we get all has to do with the mind's desires. It is the essential issue in any practice of yoga, to control the mind.
Let's back track a little bit: The living entity is on the tree of the material world, he is in this temporary situation, going from higher to lower, having good bodies and bad bodies on and on. Actually all are bad, inauspicious. The soul is eternal though, and he belongs to the spiritual world but he is transmigrating in this situation, based on his mind's desires. Then, based on his mind's desires, he gets a gross body and based on his gross body, 'visayan upasevate', he enjoyes a particular set of sense objects. One may have the desire to eat stool but he cannot do it in his present body, but due to his mind's 'glorious' desire, he will get a pig's body.
Due to his mind's desire the living entity gets a gross body with a particular set of senses and sense objects.