Sāṃkhya Kārikā verse 27
उभयात्मकमत्र मनः संकल्पकमिन्द्रियं च साधर्म्यात् । गुणपरिणामविशेषान्नानात्वं बाह्यभेदाश्च ॥ २७ ॥ubhaya-ātmakam-atra manaḥ saṃkalpakam-indriyaṃ ca sādharmyāt | guṇa-pariṇāma-viśeṣāt-nānātvaṃ bāhya-bhedāḥ ca ||
ubhaya - bothātman - essence; the highest personal principle of life; the individual soul, selfatra - in this place, here at this time, there, thenmanas - mind; that which objects of sense affect; the faculty or instrument through which thoughts enter; conceptualizing functionsaṃkalpaka - determining, deciding, purposing; it is deliberativeindriya - faculty of sense; sense; organ of sense; organs of motor action and sensory perceptionca - andsādharmya - community or equality of duty or office or properties, sameness or identity of nature, likeness or homogeneousness withguṇa - an ingredient or constituent or attribute of nature; a property or characteristic of all created things; qualities; a quality, peculiarity, attribute or property; the peculiar properties of the letterspariṇāma - transformation into; change, alteration, development, evolutionviśeṣa - distinction, difference between; a kind, species, individual; characteristic difference, peculiar mark, special property, speciality, peculiaritynānātva - difference, variety, manifoldnessbāhya - external; being outside, situated without, outer, exterior; diverging from, conflicting with, opposed to, having nothing to do with; not belonging to the family or country, strange, foreign; excluded from caste or the community, an out-castebheda - dividing, breaking, splitting, cleaving, rending, tearing, piercing; distinction, difference, kind, sort, species, variety; separation, division, partition, part, portionCommentaries and Reflections
Commentary by S Ramaswami:
ubhayātmakam- Both Karma and Jñāna Indriya.
atra- Now here.
manaḥ- Mind is.
The mind is explained as the eleventh Indriya. The mind is included as an instrument, because the Indriya cannot function without mind to provide some coordination. That function is given to Manas.
This Śloka also deals with its characteristics.
saṅkalpakam- The thought which proceeds or designates a particular activity.
indriyam- It is also an Indriya.
ca- Because.
sādharmyāt- It takes the characteristic of the instrument in operation.
The mind is that which determines when the action starts.
The Buddhi and the Ahaṃkāra may not act at that particular moment.
Here the mind is that which proceeds the activity (Saṃkalpa). This desire to coordinate is given to Manas.
guṇa-pariṇāma-viśeṣāt- The change in the Guna gives various experiences or characteristics of external objects or Prakṛti.
nānātvam- Different ways we see at different times.
bāhya-bhedāḥ- Different objects are created, giving external differences also.
ca- Because of
Saṃkalpa is the distinguishing mark of the mind. The mind is also an Indriya and is generated also that form of Ahaṃkāra or individuation which is Sāttvika. This one principle (Sattva of Ahaṃkāra) is able to generate such a variety of organs because of a specific variation in the modification of the constituents: Sattva and so on.
Each constituent (Guna) may predominate or be subordinate, and that, in varying degrees. Such differences are at the root of differences in the organs and their perception. Just as they are responsible for the diversity of external objects as referred to in the last quarter of the Sloka.
The discriminative function of the sense organs are next enumerated or mentioned separately.