Quiz · 15.7–15.11
A portion in the living
Cover the answer. Read the Devanagari of the verse before you open it.
1
In 15.7, what does manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhāni (मनः-षष्ठानि) say, and which word does it agree with?
Answer
The mind is the sixth. It is a bahuvrīhi (बहुव्रीहि) agreeing with indriyāṇi (इन्द्रियाणि), the senses the portion draws. The five besides the mind are named in 15.9: hearing, the eye, touch, taste, and smell.
2
yatantaḥ (यतन्तः) meets api (अपि) in 15.11. What is recited, and which sandhi makes it?
Answer
yatanto 'pi (यतन्तोऽपि). अः + अ aḥ + a becomes o (ओ), and the lost short a (अ) is marked by the avagraha ऽ. Then अपि + अकृत api + akṛta is apy akṛta (अप्यकृत), because i (इ) before a vowel becomes y (य्). The line is yatanto 'py akṛtātmānaḥ (यतन्तोऽप्यकृतात्मानः).
3
What does 15.7 say, in one sentence?
Answer
An eternal portion of me becomes the life in the world of the living, and draws the senses, with the mind as sixth, that abide in nature.
4
Where do 15.7–15.11 sit in the talk between Arjuna (अर्जुन) and Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण)?
Answer
Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) has just named the abode from which there is no return. He then names what does move among the living. An eternal portion of him becomes that life, draws the senses, and when it takes a body or leaves one it goes taking those senses, as the wind takes scents from their seat. In a body it presides over the five and the mind and enjoys the objects. The deluded do not see it departing, staying, or enjoying. Striving yogins see it standing in the self. Striving with an unworked self does not.
5
Say the portion and what it carries when it leaves. Which failure shows the senses were left in the body?
Answer
mama eva aṃśaḥ (मम एव अंशः), and gṛhītvā etāni saṃyāti (गृहीत्वा एतानि संयाति). If etāni (एतानि) stays behind when īśvaraḥ (ईश्वरः) departs, stay here. The portion draws the senses, and it goes taking them.