Mind and senses shape experience.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
श्रोत्रं चक्षुः स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च |अधिष्ठाय मनश्चायं विषयानुपसेवते ||१५-९||
śrotraṃ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṃ ca rasanaṃ ghrāṇameva ca . adhiṣṭhāya manaścāyaṃ viṣayānupasevate ||15-9||
Use this verse for sense-input awareness.
Meaning
Taking hold of the ear, eye, touch, taste, smell, and the mind, the soul experiences sense objects.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
The soul experiences the world through senses and mind.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna shows how experience happens. The soul uses the sensory system and mind to engage with the world. This explains why sense discipline and mind training matter.
Read the traditional commentary
Continuing from the previous verse, Krishna describes how the soul, having entered a new body, engages with the world. Presiding over the five organs of perception — hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell — together with the mind that coordinates them, the soul reaches out and 'enjoys' the objects of the senses.
The key word is adhiṣṭhāya, 'presiding over': the soul is not itself the ear or the eye, but the conscious presence that animates and governs them.
This is a subtle and important teaching. The senses by themselves are inert instruments; it is the indwelling consciousness that lends them life and makes experience possible. We habitually say 'I see, I hear, I taste,' identifying with the senses, when in truth the real 'I' is the witness behind them.
Recognizing the soul as the master, not the slave, of the senses is the first step toward the freedom Krishna pointed to earlier — using the senses as servants rather than being dragged by them.
In daily life
Train what you repeatedly see, hear, taste, touch, and think.
A person consuming negative content daily shapes the mind through the ear and eye gates.
Try this today
Reduce one unhealthy sense input today.
I guide my senses toward clarity.Reflect
Which sense gate most influences me?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘स्पर्शनम्’ mean in this verse?
The Gita on consciousness, in other chapters
- Verse 7.5Beyond inert matter lives a conscious power that upholds the world — recognise that living presence in yourself and in all beings.
- Verse 13.1 · ArjunaBegin self-inquiry by distinguishing the changing field of body and mind from the steady awareness that knows it.
- Verse 2.20The soul — your deepest nature — was never born and will never die. Death is a transition for the body, not the end of consciousness.
- Verse 11.8The deepest truths cannot be grasped by ordinary sight; they require an inner eye that is given by grace.
Swipe left for 15.10 · True seeing requires the eye of knowledge.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 15.9
Who says Bhagavad Gita 15.9, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 15.9, in Chapter 15, Purushottama Yoga (Purushottama Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 15.9 mean?
Taking hold of the ear, eye, touch, taste, smell, and the mind, the soul experiences sense objects. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 15.9 for daily life?
Train what you repeatedly see, hear, taste, touch, and think. A person consuming negative content daily shapes the mind through the ear and eye gates.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 15.9 mean?
श्रोत्रम् — the ear; चक्षुः — the eye; स्पर्शनम् — the sense of touch; रसनम् — the sense of taste; घ्राणम् — the sense of smell.
Where does verse 15.9 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 9 of 20 in Chapter 15, Purushottama Yoga. The next verse is 15.10.