Devanagari
इन्द्रियेषु मनस्तानि तन्मात्रेषु यथोद्भवम् ।
भूतादिनामून्युत्कृष्य महत्यात्मनि सन्दधे ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
indriyeṣu manas tāni
tan-mātreṣu yathodbhavam
bhūtādināmūny utkṛṣya
mahaty ātmani sandadhe
Synonyms
indriyeṣu
—
in the sense organs
;
manaḥ
—
the mind
;
tāni
—
the sense organs
;
tat
—
mātreṣu — in the objects of the senses
;
yathā
—
udbhavam — wherefrom they generated
;
bhūta
—
ādinā — by the five elements
;
amūni
—
all those sense objects
;
utkṛṣya
—
taking out
;
mahati
—
in the mahat-tattva
;
ātmani
—
unto the ego
;
sandadhe
—
amalgamated .
Translation
He amalgamated the mind with the senses and the senses with the sense objects, according to their respective positions, and he also amalgamated the material ego with the total material energy, mahat-tattva.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
He merged the mind into the senses and the senses into the sense objects, according to order of their appearance. He merged the senses objects into ahaṅkāra and ahaṅkāra into mahat-tattva.
Having described destruction of the elements up to ether, which are all produces of ahaṅkāra in tamas, the destruction of the products of ahaṅkāra in sattva and rajas are described. He merged (sandadhe) the mind into the senses, along with the sense devatās. He merged the senses and their devatās into the tan-mātras. Because the mind is dependent on the senses, he merged it into the senses. Since senses are dependent on the sense objects, he merged the senses into the sense objects. Indriyair viṣayākṛṣṭair ākṣiptaṁ dhyāyatāṁ manaḥ: the mind of a person thinking of sense objects is bewildered by the senses attracted to those objects. (SB 4.22.30) They were merged according to the order in which they appeared. The mind and sense devatās merge into the senses, because mind and the sense devatās do not have their own svarūpas without the senses. But even the senses depend on the tan-mātras. This is the conception. He then merged the tan-mātras (amūni) into ahaṅkāra (bhūtādi), and merged the ahaṅkāra into the mahat-tattva (ātmani).
Instead of manaḥ sometimes nabhaḥ (ether) is seen and instead of yathobhūtam the phrase yathā sthānam is seen. Then the meaning is “they are merged into their shelter.” Earth merges into its shelter, water. Ether resides in the senses and thus merges with them. The mind is considered one of the senses. The senses reside in the sense objects (their shelter) since they direct themselves to sense objects, and thus they merge into the sense objects. In this way the words yathodbhūtam and yathā-sthānam are explained without contradiction.
Purport
In respect to the ego, the total material energy is sundered in two parts — one agitated by the mode of ignorance and the other agitated by the modes of passion and goodness. Due to agitation by the mode of ignorance, the five gross elements are created. Due to agitation by the mode of passion, the mind is created, and due to agitation by the mode of goodness, false egoism, or identification with matter, is created. The mind is protected by a particular type of demigod. Sometimes the mind (
manaḥ
) is also understood to have a controlling deity or demigod. In this way the total mind, namely the material mind controlled by material demigods, was amalgamated with the senses. The senses, in turn, were amalgamated with the sense objects. The sense objects are forms, tastes, smells, sounds, etc. Sound is the ultimate source of the sense objects. The mind was attracted by the senses and the senses by the sense objects, and all of them were ultimately amalgamated in the sky. The creation is so arranged that cause and effect follow one after the other. The merging process involves amalgamating the effect with the original cause. Since the ultimate cause in the material world is
mahat-tattva,
everything was gradually wound up and amalgamated with the
mahat-tattva.
This may be compared to
śūnya-vāda,
or voidism, but this is the process for cleansing the real spiritual mind, or consciousness.
When the mind is completely washed of all material contamination, the pure consciousness acts. The sound vibration from the spiritual sky can automatically cleanse all material contaminations, as confirmed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.
We need only take the advice of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra
to cleanse the mind of all material contamination, and this may be considered the summary of this difficult verse. As soon as the whole material contamination is washed away by this process of chanting, all desires and reactions to material activities become immediately vanquished, and real life, peaceful existence, begins. In this Age of Kali it is very difficult to adopt the yogic process mentioned in this verse. Unless one is very expert in such
yoga,
the best course is to adopt the ways and means of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam.
Thus one can gloriously become freed from all material contamination by the simple process of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Just as life in this material world has its beginning in material sound, similarly a spiritual life has its beginning in this spiritual sound vibration.