Mahabharata 12.231.7

12.231.7

bhūmerdeho jalātsāro jyotiṣaścakṣuṣī smṛte |
prāṇāpānāśrayo vāyuḥ kheṣvākāśaṃ śarīriṇām || 7 ||

"Vyasa said, 'No man ever attains to success by means other than the acquisition of knowledge, the practice of penances, the subjugation of the senses, and renunciation of everything. The great entities (five in number) represent the first (or initial) creation of the Self-born. They have been very largely placed in embodied creatures included in the world of life. The bodies of all embodied creatures are derived from earth. The humours are from water. Their eyes are said to be derived from light. Prana, Apana (and the three other vital breaths) have the wind for their refuge. And, lastly, all unoccupied apertures within them (such as the nostrils, the cavities of the ear, etc.) are of Space. In the feet (of living creatures) is Vishnu. In their arms is Indra. Within the stomach is Agni desirous of eating. In the ears are the points of the horizon (or the compass) representing the sense of hearing. In the tongue is speech which is Saraswati. The ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose forming the fifth, are said to be the sense of knowledge. These exist for the purposes of apprehension of their respective objects. Sound, touch, form, taste and scent forming the fifth, are the objects of the (five) senses. These should always be regarded as separate from (or independent of) the senses. Like the charioteer setting his well-broken steeds along the paths he pleases, the mind sets the senses (along directions it pleases).