Verse 35: How do the internal and external objects-of-sense relate to each other?

śāntaḥ karaṇaṃ buddhiḥ sarvaṃ viṣayam avagāhate yasmāt |
tasmāt trividhaṃ karaṇaṃ dvāri dvārāṇi śeṣāṇi ||

dvāri – gate kepper
dvārāṇi – gates

The external objects-of-sense are gates and the internal organs are gatekeepers

1. The ten external organs-of-sense act as gates that permit entrance of sensory experiences.
2. The three internal organs-of-sense (Mahat, Ahamkara & Manas) act as gatekeepers. They witness everything that passes through the gates (the ten external organs-of-sense).

1. The outside is the organ-of-sense.
2. All pieces of sensory experience flow through the sense into manas.
3. The organ-of-sense is a wide open funnel on the outside, it forms a tight neck when it enters Manas and then expands somewhat again within Manas.
4. The expanded mouth within Manas creates three flows, two flow to the sides into Manas itself, and one middle flow is directed towards Ahamkara.
5. In this way only some pieces of sensory experience are funneled from Manas into Ahamkara.
6. In a similar way, only some pieces of sensory experience are funneled from Ahamkara into Mahat.
7. Everything that Mahat experiences converges in Spirit into “experience”.