Chapter 13 - Verse 14

All the senses : the buddhi-indriyas and karma-indriyas, the organs of knowledge and the organs of action. The inner senses,—manas and buddhi,—which alike form the upadhis of the Knowable, are included in the term ‘all the senses’ Moreover, even hearing and other senses form upadhis only through the upadhi of the antah-karana, the inner sense. Thus, we should understand that Brahman manifests Itself through the upadhis of external and internal senses, through the functions of all the senses, viz., determination, purposes and thoughts, hearing, speech and the like. That is to say, the Knowable functions, as it were, through the functions of all the senses. The sruti says :

“It meditates as it were, It moves as it were.” (Bri. Up. 4-3-7)

Why should it not mean that It actually functions?— Says the Lord : It is not possessed of any of the senses. Wherefore, the Knowable does not actually function when the senses are functioning. And as regards the verse,

“Without hands and feet He is swift, He grasps; He sees without the eye, He hears without the ear.”

(Svet. Up. 3-19).— there, the sruti implies that the Knowable has the power to accommodate itself to the varying fuctions of all the senses which are Its upadhis, but not that It actually possesses swift motion and such other activities. The verse should be interpreted * like the passage The blind one saw the gem. (Taitt. Aranyaka, i. 11). Because It is devoid of the senses therefore It is unattached, devoid of all attachments.

That is to say, the arthavada passage should not be understood in its literal sense; it must be so interpreted as not to contradict the main subject of the section.—(A).

Brahman, the basic Reality in all illusory phenomena.

Though It is so, yet It supports all. Indeed, everything is based on the ‘sat,’ the Existent; for everywhere the idea of ‘sat’ is present. Not even the mirage and the like exist without a basis. Hence it is said that It supports all.

Brahman, the perceiver of the Gunas

There is this yet another gate to a knowledge of the existence of the Knowable : Though devoid of the gunas,—Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas—yet, the Knowable is the enjoyer the perceiver, of the gunas which, assuming the forms of sound and other (objects of the senses), transform themselves into pleasure, pain and delusion.