Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
श्रोत्रं चक्षुः स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च ।
अधिष्ठाय मनश्चायं विषयानुपसेवते ॥९॥
śrotraṁ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṁ ca
rasanaṁ ghrāṇam eva ca
adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaṁ
viṣayān upasevate
Word for word (synonyms)
- śrotram
- ears
- cakṣuḥ
- eyes
- sparśanam
- touch
- ca
- also
- rasanam
- tongue
- ghrāṇam
- smelling power
- eva
- also
- ca
- and
- adhiṣṭhāya
- being situated
- manaḥ
- mind
- ca
- also
- ayam
- this
- viṣayān
- sense objects
- upasevate
- enjoys
Translation
The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, tongue, and nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.
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.
What this verse teaches
The jīva is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, but struggling in this world due to the five senses and the mind and thus changing material bodies
In thematic compilations 2
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.