BG 15.9 — Puruṣottama-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 15.9Chapter 15 · Puruṣottama-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

श्रोत्रं चक्षुः स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च ।

अधिष्ठाय मनश् चायं विषयानुपसेवते ॥

śrotraṃ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṃ ca rasanaṃ ghrāṇam eva ca

adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaṃ viṣayān upasevate

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Presiding over hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, with mind as the sixth, the embodied self moves through and enjoys the objects of the senses.

ekras · bhāṣya

Hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell — and manas, the inner organ, as the sixth. The jiva, ayam, adhishthaya — having presided over — them, upasevate — moves through and tastes — the vishayan, the sense-objects.

Krishna names the precise instrument-set the jiva uses. Five sense-gates plus manas — the experience-mechanism. The jiva is the presider, the senses are presided-over, and through them the jiva tastes.

Shankara reads the jiva, stationed in the body, presiding over the five sense-organs together with manas as sixth, and through these instruments experiencing sense-objects beginning with sound. Adhishthaya — having presided over — indicates that the jiva is not the senses but the one in whose presence the senses operate. Without the witness, the senses are mute; with the witness, the senses produce experience. The verse refines 15.7's karshati: the drawing is not random, it is presiding.

Madhusudana extends the list explicitly: shrotra, chakshu, sparshana, rasana, ghrana, and by the particle cha — and — also the karmendriyas and prana, with manas as sixth, are all presided over. Adhishthaya means having made these its seat. The jiva enjoys vishaya beginning with sound. The synthesis: Advaita sees this sensory web as maya-projected within the witness; bhakti sees it as the divine play through which Krishna's antaryamic presence operates. Both registers sustained.

Ramanuja reads the jiva taking up the six instruments — five jnanendriyas with manas as sixth — and rendering each instrument fit for its proper object-class, thereby enjoying upabhunkte sounds and the rest. His phrase sva-sva-vishaya-vritti-anuguna kritva — having made each apt to its own object-mode — emphasizes that the fitness of senses for objects is constituted by the jiva's own active arrangement. The bhakta is not passive recipient of sense-data; he is active arranger whose experience is shaped by his orientation.

Madhva reads the jiva experiencing objects through the avenues of senses. He cites the shruti: 'Those who sing on the vina, they sing of Him.' The jiva enjoys only in the mode conditioned by gunas, and sin does not reach the devatas because the Lord Hari is the true bhokta at the ground of all experience. The polemical point: the jiva's bhoga is real, but the ultimate enjoyer-status belongs to Hari alone — the bheda is preserved through every act of tasting.

Vallabha reads the senses as instruments the jiva takes up — constituted by prakritic ahamkara — and renders each fit for its object before enjoying the vishaya. The Vallabha accent is that these very senses were grihitva gachchhati — taken and carried away — from their divine origin, and the entire sensory circuit is therefore Krishna's lila operating through prakritic apparatus. Pushti-marga reads upasevate not as bondage-tasting but as the bhakta's potential opening to taste Krishna through the same instruments, when prasada redirects them.

Shridhara reads the verse as mapping the jiva's instrument-set: five bahyendriyas plus the antahkarana manas constitute the six means by which the jiva takes up and experiences the vishaya beginning with sound. The bhakti inflection is in upabhunkte — the jiva's actual enjoyment is real, not illusory; what changes in the chapter's later verses is the redirection of that enjoyment toward Krishna's own presence in every vishaya.

Context

where

Chapter 15 · Puruṣottama-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 15.8

When the soul takes on a new body or leaves an old one, it carries the mind and five senses along with it, the way wind lifts a fragrance from the place where it rests.

What's going on

Presiding over hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, with mind as the sixth, the embodied self moves through and enjoys the objects of the senses.

Sūtras through this verse (48)

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

15.1The world-tree's root is Viṣṇu above.───→here15.9───→17.23Oṃ-tat-sat names the Lord, three times.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

12.3Avyakta worshippers stay plural, distinct.───→here15.9───→15.16Bhūta is not inert; ranges over jīvas.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

8.5Remember Me as the inner-ruler form.───→here15.9───→15.15Seated in every heart; memory comes from Me.

show all 48

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

15.8The Lord carries the soul from body to body.───→here15.9───→18.14Of the five causes, Viṣṇu is the prime mover.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.───→here15.9───→15.17Beyond all selves stands the Highest Person alone.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotbetween

14.27What stands behind brahman is fixed by named texts.───→here15.9───→15.15The Veda's whole knowable is named as Hari.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

15.1'Above' is just Viṣṇu, the upward one.───→here15.9───→17.14'Worship of gods' is worship of the One.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not just utterance.───→here15.9───→15.16Refusing kṣara=inert, akṣara=soul.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

15.1World-tree rooted up; Viṣṇu is ūrdhva.───→here15.9───→18.1Renunciation closes; threads converge.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

15.1World-tree rooted up; Viṣṇu is ūrdhva-mūla.───→here15.9───→15.12Sun-moon light is Viṣṇu’s light.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

15.1Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.4 settles aśvattha.───→here15.9───→15.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.2.127 controls bhūta.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not paraphrase.───→here15.9───→15.16Bhūta covers jīva; literal range holds.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionexit

15.6The supreme abode does not return its dwellers.───→here15.9───→

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeexit

13.25Three classes, one ladder, each class on a different rung.───→here15.9───→

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordexit

15.4Cut the world-tree by knowing whose play it is.───→here15.9───→

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideexit

13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.───→here15.9───→

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥexit

15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.───→here15.9───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

15.1Krishna is the ground, not a partner-god.───→here15.9───→18.55Bhakti is the engine of the highest knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

12.20Therefore I praise him, Kāśirāja, my own.───→here15.9───→15.20The closing verse names Krishna as the supreme.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanbetween

15.1Chapter fifteen unfolds what fourteen sealed.───→here15.9───→18.66Final refuge in Me is final refuge in the ground.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicbetween

9.14Constantly singing, striving with steady vow.───→here15.9───→15.20The chapter closes gesturing toward sixteen.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

15.1Cut the world-tree at its root, clinging.───→here15.9───→18.1Renouncing means cutting the false relationship.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

15.7The self wears body as a costume.───→here15.9───→18.46Worship the One through your own work.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

13.17The Knowable lives as the inner light.───→here15.9───→15.15Seated in every heart; memory comes from Me.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here15.9───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningexit

13.1The last six work what 'are' really means.───→here15.9───→

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursexit

15.7Self drags the senses like wind drags scent.───→here15.9───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalG

Soul as His portion, neither cut nor identicalbetween

15.7The soul is My portion, wrapped in unknowing.───→here15.9───→18.55He enters Me; he is not absorbed away.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

15.1Dispassion first; else neither knowing nor love.───→here15.9───→18.1The eighteenth gathers the whole Gītā in one.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

15.7The soul is My eternal part — its ānanda hidden. .───→here15.9───→15.15The Lord seated in every heart is the witness.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

15.7Three Brahmasūtras quoted in the soul-as-part verse.───→here15.9───→18.55The Nibandha's sevā-section names the means.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .───→here15.9───→15.15The bhāṣya-author is named by the Lord himself.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessexit

14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.───→here15.9───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeexit

13.10A steady evenness is the seeker's mark.───→here15.9───→

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderexit

13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.───→here15.9───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

13.1Vākyārtha hexad begins. Anchor.───→here15.9───→15.20Whole teaching named guhyatamaṃ śāstram.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

12.20Bhakti hexad sealed at the close.───→here15.9───→15.20Whole śāstra named most-secret-teaching.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

13.32Touches without being stained.───→here15.9───→15.15I sit in every heart.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

15.7Eternal fragment, never lost.───→here15.9───→15.16Perishable and imperishable.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

15.4Find the Origin and take refuge in him.───→here15.9───→18.62Take refuge whole-being.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousexit

15.7Aṃśa pinned to the Lord, not free.───→here15.9───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

15.5Free of pride and delusion───→here15.9───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

7.25The magician sees through his own illusion.───→here15.9───→15.16Both the changing and changeless are below the supreme.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

15.1The world-tree is the tree of the Kaṭha.───→here15.9───→18.66Renounce all dharmas — śruti ratifies.

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourexit · v2

15.8Carrying the perfume───→here15.9───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalE

Field and field-knower as Parameśvarabetween

13.12Hands and feet on every side, beyond all.───→here15.9───→15.16Two persons inside the field, one beyond.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

13.2'Cāpi' marks two — not one identity.───→here15.9───→15.15Memory and forgetting both come from Him.

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiexit

15.7'Mamaivamsho jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah.' A part of me, eternal, has become───→here15.9───→

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 14 occurrences)

विषयान् viṣaya — object of sense; sense-domain; sphere · accusative masculine plural noun
उपसेवते upa-√sev — to attend upon, serve (upa- + √sev) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
चक्षुः cakṣus — eye; sight · accusative neuter singular noun
अधिष्ठाय adhiṣṭhā — to stand upon, preside over (adhi- + √sthā) · conv

show all 12

च ca ×3 — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
श्रोत्रम् śrotra — ear, hearing (from √śru) · accusative neuter singular noun
स्पर्शनम् sparśana — touch, the sense of touch (from √spṛś) · accusative neuter singular noun
रसनम् rasana — taste, the tongue (from √ras) · accusative neuter singular noun
घ्राणम् ghrāṇa — smell, the nose (from √ghrā) · accusative neuter singular noun
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
मनः manas — mind (lower mind), the inner organ of perception · accusative neuter singular noun
अयम् idam — this (proximal demonstrative) · nominative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If manas (mind) is the sixth sense alongside the five external organs, what does it mean to 'hear' a thought rather than merely think it — and does meditation on this distinction loosen the grip of mental noise?
02Each school agrees the jiva 'presides over' rather than 'is' the senses — what practical difference does it make to hold sensory experience as something you govern versus something you are?

show all 7

03Madhva's sruti citation maps sensory experience onto worship — can you find one ordinary sensory act today (a meal, a piece of music) and trace whether it pointed toward or away from that orientation?
04Vallabha reads every sensation as a fragment of divine sakti (power) taken and carried away — how does treating a pleasant sensation as prasada (grace-gift) rather than personal acquisition change your relationship to pleasure?
05Shankara locates the entire sensory circuit in avidya (ignorance) — does identifying a moment of sense-craving as an avidya-construct dissolve it, or does that move itself require the jnana (knowledge) that is the fruit rather than the instrument of the practice?
06Ramanuja insists the very fitness of each faculty for its object is Ishvara's gift — how does locating the 'working order' of your senses in Bhagavan rather than in yourself affect how you respond when a sense faculty is impaired or lost?
07All six renderings agree that the jiva travels with this sensory toolkit across lives (BG 15.8 establishes the migration) — does knowing that the ears and eyes you carry now were carried before, and will be carried again, change how you treat them?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before the first input of the day — the alarm, the first screen, the first taste — pause and ask: 'Who is presiding over this sense right now?' The Shankara application is to insert the discriminating question between stimulus and response, interrupting the automatic identification of Atman with the sense-instrument.

Dvaita

In a moment of sensory pleasure — music, good food, a beautiful scene — Madhva's application is to ask: 'Is this enjoyment in the mode of the gunas (qualities), or is it tending toward Hari?' The exercise is to deliberately offer the perception upward, converting a moment of bhoga (enjoyment) into a moment of remembrance of the Lord as ground of all experience.

show all 4

Bhakti

Shridhara's balance suggests an accessible bhakti-practice: at the end of each day, name one thing heard, one seen, one tasted, and ask whether that sensory moment drew you toward or away from the Divine. The practice is not suppression but redirection — the antahkarana (inner organ) learning to orient its intake.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudana adds prana (vital force) and the karmendriyas (action-organs) to the list — so the application widens: not just what you perceive but what you do and how you breathe is included in the 'sensory bundle' that travels with the jiva. A Madhusudana-inflected sadhana (practice) is to bracket one full sensory-motor sequence (a walk, a conversation) and hold the question: 'Is this bundle being used as avidya (ignorance) or as bhakti (devotion)?'

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 15, Verse 9: Krishna to Arjuna — Puruṣottama-Yoga