Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.22.16
Sarga· CreationDistinguishing Sense Objects From Sense Functions
“Sound, touch, taste, smell and form are the objects of the knowledge-acquiring senses, and movement, speech, excretion and manufacture are functions of the working senses.”
What the purport teaches
- Sound, touch, taste, smell and form are the five objects of the knowledge-acquiring senses.
- Movement, speech, excretion and manufacture are functions of the working senses.
- Here utsarga, or excretion, includes evacuation by both the genitals and anus, so it counts as two elements. Thus the verse lists ten elements in two sets of five.
Try this today
Write two short lists: the five sense objects and the working-sense functions, counting the two forms of excretion separately.
Ask yourself
Can I distinguish what my senses perceive from what my working senses do?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.