Upanishads · Bhāvanā p11
॥
Devanāgarī
पृथिव्यप्तेजोवाय्वाकाशश्रोत्रत्वक्चक्षुर्जिह्वाघ्राणवाक्पाणिपादपायूपस्थमनोविकाराः षोडश शक्तयः
Transliteration (IAST)
pṛthivyaptejovāyvākāśaśrotratvakcakṣurjihvāghrāṇavākpāṇipādapāyūpasthamanovikārāḥ ṣoḍaśa śaktayaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पृथिवी-अप्-तेजः-वायु-आकाश-pṛthivī-ap-tejaḥ-vāyu-ākāśa-earth, water, fire, wind, space
श्रोत्र-त्वक्-चक्षुः-जिह्वा-घ्राण-śrotra-tvak-cakṣuḥ-jihvā-ghrāṇa-hearing, skin, eye, tongue, smell
वाक्-पाणि-पाद-पायु-उपस्थ-vāk-pāṇi-pāda-pāyu-upastha-speech, hands, feet, anus, genitals
मनः-विकाराः षोडश शक्तयःmanaḥ-vikārāḥ ṣoḍaśa śaktayaḥand the transformations of mind — sixteen powers
Translation
Earth, water, fire, wind, space; hearing, skin, eye, tongue, smell; speech, hands, feet, anus, genitals; and the transformations of mind — sixteen powers.
Version
9627ce4a6a5b · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Sixteen are listed: the five elements, the five senses of knowledge, the five senses of action, and the mind. This count is the foundation of Sāṅkhya and recurs in all these books. It is worth pausing on the second five, for it is usually absent from European lists. Karma-indriya, "senses of action," are speech, hands, feet, excretion, and generation; and beside them stand jñāna-indriya, "senses of knowledge" — hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell.
This count shows a cast of mind, precise and without prudishness. A person not only receives the world but also acts in it, and the instruments of action are exactly as many as the instruments of perception; and their list includes what is not customarily spoken of aloud. The Vaiṣṇava side holds this count and adds to it her own rule, worth naming. Both rows of senses are to be occupied, not removed: give the ear a name, the eye a form, the tongue consecrated food; but give the hands a task too, the feet a road to the temple, speech a story. The Bhāgavatam lists nine forms of service (7.5.23), and in them both rows are occupied: hearing and chanting are senses of knowledge, service and bowing are senses of action.
It is worth adding that manas, the mind, is named sixteenth, and is called vikāra, "a transformation." That is, the mind is not placed above the senses as their master; it is called their modification — that into which they compose themselves.