SB 3.6.18

SB 3.6.18

Devanagari

त्वचमस्य विनिर्भिन्नां विविशुर्धिष्ण्यमोषधी: । अंशेन रोमभि: कण्डूं यैरसौ प्रतिपद्यते ॥ १८ ॥

Verse text

tvacam asya vinirbhinnāṁ viviśur dhiṣṇyam oṣadhīḥ aṁśena romabhiḥ kaṇḍūṁ yair asau pratipadyate

Synonyms

tvacam skin ; asya of the gigantic form ; vinirbhinnām being separately manifested ; viviśuḥ entered ; dhiṣṇyam the controlling deity ; oṣadhīḥ sensations ; aṁśena with parts ; romabhiḥ through the hairs on the body ; kaṇḍūm itching ; yaiḥ by which ; asau the living entity ; pratipadyate experiences .

Translation

When there was a separate manifestation of skin, the controlling deities of sensations and their different parts entered into it, and thus the living entities feel itching and happiness due to touch.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

When the gross skin (adhibhūta) of the universal form appeared, the presiding deities the plants (adhidaiva), along with their portion subtle organ called body hair (adhyātma) entered. By these body hairs, relief from itching (adhibhūta, function) appears. Oṣadhīh stands for oṣadhyaḥ. On the adhiṣṭhāna of skin, two subtle sense organs—skin, previously mentioned, and body hairs—appeared. The presiding deity of the skin sense organ is Vāyu, and the sense object is touch. The presiding deities of the hair sense organ are plants, and their function is relief from itching.

Purport

For sense perception there are two principal items, touch and itching, and both of them are controlled by the skin and hairs on the body. According to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the controlling deity of touch is the air passing within the body, and the controlling deity of the hairs on the body is Oṣadhya. For the skin the object of perception is touch, and for the hairs on the body the object of perception is itching.