This shloka continues the same teaching from 15.7 and 15.8. In 15.7, Bhagavān explained that Brahman, as original consciousness, appears in the mind as reflected consciousness, called the jīva. In 15.8, the jīva was shown leaving one body and taking another, carrying the subtle mind and sense faculties just as wind carries fragrance. Now 15.9 explains what happens after the jīva has entered a new body: it begins experiencing the world through the sense faculties and the mind.

The verse says: śrotraṃ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṃ ca rasanaṃ ghrāṇam eva ca — the ear, eye, skin, tongue, and nose. These are the five jñānendriyas, the faculties of knowledge. But the important point is that these are not merely the physical organs. The physical ear, eyeball, skin, tongue, and nose are called golakas, the visible physical instruments. Behind each physical instrument is the subtle faculty: the power of hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling. The jīva uses these subtle faculties through the corresponding physical organs.

This distinction is very important. In a dead body, the physical eye may still be present, but seeing is not there. The physical ear may still be present, but hearing is not there. The visible instrument remains, but the subtle faculty is no longer functioning through it. Therefore Vedānta distinguishes between the golakam, the gross physical organ, and the indriyam, the subtle faculty.

Bhagavān also says manaḥ ca — and the mind. The mind is necessary because the senses do not function meaningfully without it. The eye may be open, but if the mind is elsewhere, we may not truly see. The ear may receive sound, but if the mind is absent, we may not really hear. The mind coordinates, attends, interprets, remembers, compares, and responds. Therefore the jīva experiences the world not merely through five senses, but through five senses backed by the mind.

The word adhiṣṭhāya means resorting to, presiding over, or occupying. After taking a new body, the jīva places the subtle faculties into their corresponding physical slots. The seeing faculty functions through the eye-golaka. The hearing faculty functions through the ear-golaka. The touch faculty functions through the skin. The taste faculty through the tongue. The smell faculty through the nose. The mind also has its own seat according to śāstra; the hṛdayam is treated as the golakam for the mind. Thus the jīva is now set up to transact with the new environment.

Then Bhagavān says ayaṃ viṣayān upasevate — this jīva experiences the sense objects. Viṣayāḥ are sound, form, touch, taste, and smell. Once the jīva is associated with a body-mind-sense complex, experience begins. Some experiences are pleasant, some painful, and some mixed. The type of experience a child begins with is not chosen by the child’s present free will. The child does not choose the parents, family, body, country, health, or early environment. These are governed by pūrva-janma karma. Some are born into comfortable circumstances; some into painful circumstances. The jīva begins experiencing according to the body and environment produced by karma.

The deeper teaching is that experiences of pleasure and pain are possible only because of reflected consciousness. A dead body cannot experience pleasure; it cannot experience pain. The body becomes an experiencing body only when the jīva, the subtle body with reflected consciousness, operates through it. Thus every experience points back to consciousness. The sense organs contact the world, the mind processes the experience, and consciousness reveals the whole transaction.

So 15.9 is not merely a biological statement about sense organs. It is a Vedāntic statement about the jīva’s functioning. The jīva takes a body, places the subtle faculties in their physical instruments, operates through them with the mind, and experiences the world according to karma. This prepares for 15.10 and 15.11, where Bhagavān will distinguish between those who fail to recognize this jīva and those who, through a refined mind, do recognize it.