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प्रवचनसार
फासो रसो य गंधो वण्णो सहो य पोग्गला होति । अक्खाणं ते अक्खा जुगवं ते णेव गेण्हति ॥1-56॥ स्पर्शो रसश्च गन्धो वर्णः शब्दश्च पुद्गला भवन्ति ।
अक्षाणां तान्यक्षाणि युगपत्तान्नैव गृह्णन्ति ॥1-56॥ सामान्यार्थ - [अक्षाणां] पाँचों इन्द्रियों के [ स्पर्शः ] स्पर्श [ रसः ] रस [च गन्धः] और गंध [वर्णः] रूप [च] तथा [शब्दः] शब्द - ये पाँच विषय [पुद्गलाः] पुद्गलमयी [भवन्ति ] हैं अर्थात् पाँच इन्द्रियाँ उक्त स्पर्शादि पाँचों विषयों को जानती हैं, [ तानि अक्षाणां] परन्तु वे इन्द्रियाँ [ तान् ] उन पाँचों विषयों को [ युगपत् ] एक ही साथ [न एव गह्णन्ति ] ग्रहण नहीं करती हैं। The objects that the senses (of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing) know are physical matter. Moreover, the senses are unable to apprehend these objects simultaneously.
Explanatory Note: The five senses of touch (sparśana), taste (rasana), smell (ghrāņa), sight (cakṣu), and hearing (śrotra, karņa) comprehend their respective sense-objects one by one; these cannot comprehend the sense-objects collectively. The reason is that the knowledge (jñāna) that arises on the destruction-cumsubsidence (kşayopasama) of the knowledge-obscuring (jñānāvaraṇīya) karmas operates sequentially. The crow has two eyes with a single eyeball that moves extremely fast to the operational eye; to the onlooker it appears that it has two eyes with independent eyeballs. The crow cannot see with two eyes at the same time. The same is the state of the knowledge (jñāna) that arises on the destruction-cum-subsidence (ksayopasama) of the knowledge-obscuring (jñānāvaraṇīya) karmas. It cannot know through all the five senses simultaneously. At any particular time, it operates through a single sense; all five senses cannot operate simultaneously. Knowledge through the senses, therefore, is indirect, dependent, and worthy of rejection.
