Text 24] Bhagavatam is the Answer 577

for the skin both as food and medicine, as is stated in the Third Canto:
“tvacam asya vinirbhinnam vivisur dhisnyam osadhih.”

TEXT 24

wet RIS ATTRA |
TAG Tala WAAAY [Rll

hastau ruruhatus tasya
nana-karma-cikirsaya

tayos tu balavan indra
addanam ubhaydsrayam

hastau—the hands; ruruhatuh—manifested; tasya—His; néna—various;
karma—work, cikirsaya—being so desirous; tayoh—of them; tu—however;
balavan—to give strength; indrah—the demigod in heaven; adanam—
activities of the hand; ubhaya-asrayam—dependent on both the demigod
and the hand.

TRANSLATION

Thereafter when the Supreme Person desired to perform varieties of
work, the two hands and their controlling strength, and Indra, the demigod

in heaven, became manifested, as also the acts dependent on both the
hands and the demigod.

PURPORT

In every item we can note with profit that the sense organs of the living
entity are never independent in any stage. The Lord is known as the Lord
of the senses (Hysikesa), and thus the sense organs of the living entities
become manifested by the will of the Lord, and each organ is controlled
by a certain type of demigod. No one, therefore, can claim any proprietor-
ship of the senses. The living entity is controlled by the senses, the senses
are controlled by the demigods, and the demigods are the servants of the
Supreme Lord. That is the arrangement in the system of creation. The
whole thing is controlled ultimately by the Supreme Lord, and there is no
independence either of the material nature or of the living entity. The
illusioned living entity who claims to be the lord of his senses is under the
