वस्तुनो मृदुकाठिन्य लघुगुर्वोष्णशीतताम् जिघृक्षतस्त्वङ्निर्भिन्ना तस्यां रोममहीरुहाः तत्र चान्तर्बहिर्वातस्त्वचा लब्धगुणो वृतः
vastuno mṛdu-kāṭhinya- laghu-gurvoṣṇa-śītatām jighṛkṣatas tvaṅ nirbhinnā tasyāṁ roma-mahīruhāḥ tatra cāntar bahir vātas tvacā labdha-guṇo vṛtaḥ
Synonyms
vastunaḥ—of all matters; mṛdu—softness; kāṭhinya—hardness; laghu—lightness; guru—heaviness; oṣṇa—warmness; śītatām—coldness; jighṛkṣataḥ—desiring to perceive; tvak—touch sensation; nirbhinnā—distributed; tasyām—in the skin; roma—hairs on the body; mahī-ruhāḥ—as well as the trees, the controlling deities; tatra—there; ca—also; antaḥ—within; bahiḥ—outside; vātaḥ tvacā—sense of touch or the skin; labdha—having been perceived; guṇaḥ—objects of sense perception; vṛtaḥ—generated..
Translation
When there was a desire to perceive the physical characteristics of matter, as softness, hardness, warmth, cold, lightness, heaviness, etc., the background of sensation, skin, the skin pores, the hairs on the body and their controlling deities (the trees) were generated. Within and without the skin there is an air covering through which sense perception became prominent.
Purport
The physical characteristics of matter, as softness, etc., are subject of the sense perception, and thus physical knowledge is the subject matter of the touch sensation. One can measure the temperature of matter by touching with the hand, and one can measure the weight of a matter by lifting with the hand and thus estimate its heaviness or lightness. The skin, the skin pores and the hairs on the body are all interdependent with touch sensation. The air blowing within and without the skin is also an object of sense perception. This sense perception is also the source of knowledge, and therefore it is suggested here that physical or physiological knowledge are subordinate to the knowledge of the Self, as above mentioned. Knowledge of Self can expand to the knowledge of phenomena, but physical knowledge cannot lead to the knowledge of Self.
There is, however, intimate relation between the hairs on the body and the vegetation on the body of the earth. The vegetables are nourishment for the skin both as food and medicine, as is stated in the Third Canto: "tvacam asya vinirbhinnāṁ viviśur dhiṣṇyam oṣadhīḥ."