[Advaita-l] Tattvabodha of Adi Sankaracharya - 11

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)  2.2.2 Organs of Action (karmendriyas) The five organs of action are:*  vAk.h : organ of speech*  prANi : hands*  pAda : feet*  pAyu : excretory organ*  upasthAnam.h : genitals   vAcho devatA vahniH .  hastayorindraH .  pAdayorviShNuH .  pAyormR^ityuH .  upasthasya prajApatiH .  iti karmendriyadevatAH . Similar to the discussion of jnanendriyas thepresiding deity for each of the organs of ac-tion are as follows:* vAcho devatA vahniH . The  presiding  deity  ofspec is Fire* hastayorindraH . Of hands Indra* pAdayorviShNuH . Of legs, Vishnu* pAyormR^ityuH . Of excretory organ, Mrityu (Lordof Death)* upasthasya prajApatiH . Of genitals,PrajApati* iti karmendriyadevatAH . Thus the presiding deitiesof the organs of action   vAcho viShayaH bhAShaNam .  pANyorviShayaH vastugrahaNam .  pAdayorviShayaH gamanam .  pAyorviShayaH malatyAgaH .  upasthasya viShayaH Ananda iti . Then, the function of each of the organs ofaction is enumerated:* vAcho viShayaH bhAShaNam . The function of theorgan of speech is to speak.* pANyorviShayaH vastugrahaNam . Of the hands, isto grasp things.* pAdayorviShayaH gamanam . Of the feet, is move-ment.* pAyorviShayaH malatyAgaH . Of the excretorryorgan, is waste removal.* upasthasya viShayaH Ananda iti . Of the geni-tals, is pleasure of procreation. The author concluded with the discussion ofonly ten of the seventeen subtle bodies. Of themissing seven, two of them, namely, mind andintellect, are discussed as part of the innerequipment (antaH karANi), and five of them, thepancha prANAs, as part of the panca koSas, later.For the sake of completion of this section, wewill briefly outline all these seven. The panchaprANAs are responsible for the five-fold physi-ological functions as follows: * prANaH . Respiration* apAnaH . Evacuation / Excretion* vyAnaH . Circulation* udAnaH . Reaction, Throwing out* samAnaH . Digestion / Assimilation Mind and Intellect are names of one and theSame instrument, called antaHkaraNam.h (innerequipment) based on the function. When thereis indecision and oscillation or doubting, it iscalled mind - manaH, and is defined later assa~NkalpavikalpAtmakaM manaH . When the same equipment does assertion thanoscillation, it is known as Intellect -buddhiH andis defined as nishchayAtmikA buddhiH . The presid-ing deity of Mind is Moon and that of Intellectis BrahmA.  (Continued in next post)