Verse 7: When perceiving directly, can I trust my own senses?

atidūrāt sāmīpyāt-indriya-ghātāt-manas-anavasthānāt |
saukṣmyāt-vyavadhānāt-abhibhavāt samāna-abhihārāt-ca ||

indriya – organ of sense
ghāta – injury
manas – mind
anavasthita – unsteady

Yes, if I am aware of their limitations.

1. Even in relation to the manifest that I can perceive there may be things that I may not be able to perceive for different reasons:
   1. A thing may be too far, like a bird in the sky.
   2. A thing may be too close, like the cornea of my eye.
   3. A sense may be impaired, like blindness.
   4. I may be distracted and can miss something that is right in front of me, like when I am angry or when I am intentionally distracted by a sleight-of-hand magician.
   5. A thing may be subtlety/minute, like water in the air or bacteria in soil.
   6. A thing may be obstructed from me, when something, like a wall, stands between my senses and the object of perception.
   7. A thing may be suppressed, like a star in the bright sky of the day.
   8. A thing may be mixed in with other things, like one grain of sand on a beach, or one starling in a flock.
2. All these examples demonstrate that a thing does not become non-existent just because I cannot perceive it.
3. The Unmanifest is such a thing. That I cannot perceive it does not mean it does not exist.