Verses on Sāṃkhya 29.3

29.3

mātraśabdo viśeṣārthaḥ | yathā bhikṣāmātraṃ labhyate nānyo viśeṣaḥ | tathā cakṣuḥ | gatārthe ālocanamātram iti | ekaikasya pratīndriyaṃ svaviṣayagrahaṇasāmarthyam eva | na hi cakṣuḥ śravaṇasamarthaṃ dānādānasamarthaṃ vā //

The word "mere" (mātra) has the sense of exclusion, just as when [one says] "mere alms is obtained, no other special thing." So too for the eye: in the understood sense, it is "mere bare awareness." Each sense faculty possesses only the capacity to apprehend its own object; for the eye is not capable of hearing, nor is it capable of giving and taking.