Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.11.10

gandhākriti-sparśa-rasa-śravāmsi

visarga-raty-arty-abhijalpa-śilpāh

ekādaśam svīkaranam mameti

śayyām aham dvādaśam eka āhuh

SYNONYMS

gandha — smell; ākriti — form; sparśa — touch; rasa — taste; śravāmsi — and sound; visarga — evacuating; rati — sexual intercourse; arti — movement; abhijalpa — speaking; śilpāh — grasping or releasing; ekādaśam — eleventh; svīkaranam — accepting as; mama — mine; iti — thus; śayyām — this body; aham — I; dvādaśam — twelfth; eke — some; āhuh — have said.

TRANSLATION

Sound, touch, form, taste and smell are the objects of the five knowledge-acquiring senses. Speech, touch, movement, evacuation and sexual intercourse are the objects of the working senses. Besides this, there is another conception by which one thinks, "This is my body, this is my society, this is my family, this is my nation," and so forth. This eleventh function, that of the mind, is called the false ego. According to some philosophers, this is the twelfth function, and its field of activity is the body.

PURPORT

There are different objects for the eleven items. Through the nose we can smell, by the eyes we can see, by the ears we can hear, and in this way we gather knowledge. Similarly, there are the karmendriyas, the working senses — the hands, legs, genitals, rectum, mouth and so forth. When the false ego expands, it makes one think. "This is my body, family, society, country," etc.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness