In plain words
The five mahābhūtas, ahaṅkāra, buddhi, the unmanifest, the ten senses and manas as the one, and the five objects of the senses,
Word for word
The great elements, ahaṅkāra, buddhi and the unmanifest itself, the organs, ten and one, and the five objects of the senses,
महाभूतान्यहङ्कारो बुद्धिरव्यक्तमेव चइन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रियगोचराः
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
स्तुत्या अभिमुखीभूताय अर्जुनाय आह भगवान् —
महाभूतानि महान्ति च तानि सर्वविकारव्यापकत्वात् भूतानि च सूक्ष्माणि । स्थूलानि तु इन्द्रियगोचरशब्देन अभिधायिष्यन्ते अहङ्कारः महाभूतकारणम् अहंप्रत्ययलक्षणः । अहङ्कारकारणं बुद्धिः अध्यवसायलक्षणा । तत्कारणम् अव्यक्तमेव च, न व्यक्तम् अव्यक्तम् अव्याकृतम् ईश्वरशक्तिः ‘मम माया दुरत्यया’(भ. गी. ७ । १४) इत्युक्तम् । एवशब्दः प्रकृत्यवधारणार्थः एतावत्येव अष्टधा भिन्ना प्रकृतिः । च - शब्दः भेदसमुच्चयार्थः । इन्द्रियाणि दश, श्रोत्रादीनि पञ्च बुद्ध्युत्पादकत्वात् बुद्धीन्द्रियाणि, वाक्पाण्यादीनि पञ्च कर्मनिवर्तकत्वात् कर्मेन्द्रियाणि ; तानि दश । एकं च ; किं तत् ? मनः एकादशं सङ्कल्पाद्यात्मकम् । पञ्च च इन्द्रियगोचराः शब्दादयो विषयाः । तानि एतानि साङ्ख्याः चतुर्विंशतितत्त्वानि आचक्षते ॥ ५ ॥
In plain words
Arjuna's heart has opened, softened by everything just praised in him — and it is to this Arjuna, turned toward him now, that the Lord speaks —
'The great elements' — 'great' because they run all the way through every transformation that follows from them; that's exactly what makes them 'elements.' And here they're meant subtly — their gross forms get their own name later, under 'the reach of the senses.' Ahaṅkāra, the ego-sense, is what gives rise to the great elements — and it is nothing more mysterious than the plain notion 'I.' And what gives rise to ahaṅkāra? Buddhi, the intellect — the faculty that settles things, that decides. And what gives rise to buddhi? The unmanifest itself — not the visible, not the differentiated, not yet drawn out into shape. This is nothing but the Lord's own power: 'My māyā is hard to overcome' (Bhagavad Gītā 7.14), as it has already been said elsewhere. The word 'itself' here is doing real work — it pins down exactly how much counts as prakṛti: this much, divided eight ways, and no more. The 'and' simply gathers those eight divisions into one breath. Now the senses: ten altogether. Five of them — hearing and the rest — are called the senses of cognition, because they generate awareness. Five more — speech, hand, and the rest — are called the organs of action, because they carry action out. That makes ten. And one more — what is it? The mind, the eleventh, made of intention and everything akin to it. And five more still — the objects the senses reach toward: sound and the rest. Put it all together, and this is exactly what the followers of Sāṅkhya call the twenty-four principles.
Close to the Sanskrit
The Blessed Lord speaks to Arjuna, who has become receptive through [that] praise —
'The great elements' [means]: those [things which are] great, and, because of pervading all modifications, [are called] 'elements'; and [here they are meant as] subtle. The gross [elements], however, will be spoken of under the term 'range of the senses'. Ahaṅkāra [is] the cause of the great elements, characterized by the notion 'I'. The cause of ahaṅkāra [is] buddhi, characterized by ascertainment. The cause of that [buddhi] is 'the unmanifest itself' — not manifest, unmanifest, undifferentiated — [this is] the power of the Lord; 'My māyā is hard to overcome' (Bhagavad Gītā 7.14) — thus it has been said. The word 'eva' has the purpose of restricting [the scope] to prakṛti: 'this much only', divided eightfold, is prakṛti. The word 'ca' has the purpose of aggregating the divisions. The senses [are] ten: hearing and so on, five — because they produce cognition, [called] the cognitive sense-organs; speech, hand, and so on, five — because they carry out action, [called] the organs of action; those [together are] ten. And one [more]; what is that? The mind, the eleventh, consisting in intention and so on. And five [more, are] the objects of the senses — sound and so on — the objects. These, [all] these, the followers of Sāṅkhya call the twenty-four principles.