This story of a quarrel among the Indriyas is mentioned in a Chhandogya and Brihadaranyaka upanishad.
Before beginning this story, lets revise the knowledge of Indriyas/ the senses in short.

Indriyas are of two types. 1. Jnanendriyas, 2. Karmendriyas.

Jnanendriyas are five and commonly called as sense organs or organs of knowledge. These are-
1.Faculty of vision in eyes,  2. Faculty of hearing in ears,  3. Faculty of smell in nose,  4.Faculty of taste in tongue,     5. Faculty of touch in tvak/skin.

2. Karmendriyas are five and commonly called as organs of action or function. These are-
1. Faculty of  speech in voice organs- vocal chord and tongue, 2. Faculty of holding and grasping in hands,
3. Faculty of locomotion in legs,
4. Faculty of excretion in anus,
5. faculty of procreation in genital organs.

Mind well, all these indriyas are subtle and are the parts of subtle body/sukshma sharira.
Visible Eye balls, ears, etc and hands, legs etc, are the parts of gross body/ sthula sharira. These are only external / physical appendages. They cannot function without their respective faculty in the subtle body. E.g.- You can see the external eye balls of a blind man but their faculty of vision is missing. That is why they cannot see even if they have the external eyes. You must have seen few babies with missing external ear appendage in some congenital disorder but they can hear well because faculty of hearing in their subtle body is intact.
Other components of subtle body are mind, buddhi, memory and ahankar.

So lets enjoy the story of quarrel among these Indriyas/ the senses.

Once upon a time,  a great controversy arose among the senses; as to who among them was the best and the most superior. Everyone started proving own superiority over others. No one was ready to give up the argument. Everyone was boasting ; ” I am the most superior…without me; you are nothing.” Finally, when quarrel reached at peak, they decided to go to the Prajapati, their father for the final opinion/ judgement.

So they went to Prajapati and asked,  “ O Lord ! Plese tell us, who is the best and the most superior among us. ”

Prajapati listened them carefully and then replied,  “ He is the best and the most superior among you, by whose leaving / departure , the body will be at the worst condition.”

All Indriyas listened Prajapati’s instruction cum opinion and decided to leave the body one by one; for a whole year and return back to assess the sufferings of body because of their absence.
So at first, the organ of Speech departed. It stayed away from the body for a whole year. Then it returned and asked all of them, “How did you live without me? ”

The other Indriyas replied: “We did live but like a dumb person. That means, we lived without speaking, but everything went well. We were breathing with the prana, seeing with the eyes, hearing with the ears, tasting with the tongue, smelling with the nose, feeling the touch and thinking with the mind.”
The organ of speech entered the body.
Now, it was the turn of the eyes to depart. Eyes ( faculty of vision and not the external eyeballs) departed from the body and stayed away for a year. Then, It returned and asked, “How did you live without me?”

The other organs replied: “We lived but like a blind person. We lived without seeing anything. But we were breathing, speaking, tasting, smelling, feeling and thinking with the mind.”
The eyes entered the body.
Then the ear( faculty of hearing) leaved, stayed away for a year and returned back. He asked the other organs, “How did you live without me?”

They replied: “We all lived but like a deaf person, without hearing. But we were breathing, speaking, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling and thinking with the mind.”

The ear entered the body.
In this way, rest of the sense organs departed and came back. Nothing worst happened to the body by their absence.

After the sense organs, the mind left and stayed away for a whole year. It came back and asked, “How did you live without me?”

They replied: “We lived but like a baby. Without thinking but breathing , speaking, tasting, smelling, seeing hearing, feeling.

The mind entered the body.

After watching all the drama, the prana decided to depart from the body.( Prana is not just the breath but it is the vital energy. Pranas are the five vital energies – prana, vyana, samana, apana and udana which vitalizes subtle as well as gross body.).
The moment Prana started leaving the body, all the indriyas started losing their energy/power, the vitality.  All of them felt as if their energy is getting sucked out and they are becoming weak and sluggish. When prana acquired its original position, sense organs started feeling energetic and powerful again. Then again the prana started to depart, and sense organs felt powerless again. Sense organs were
amazed and frightened by this experience. They understood that they are functionless without the prana. That the very power they are having is because of the prana.
So all the senses gathered around the Prana and said, “ O respected Lord, Prana! Please don’t leave us.  You are the best and the most superior among us. The attributes of being most excellence; we possess is in fact ;of yours revered sir… !
Thus their quarrel ended in a positive way, making them more knowledgeable yet gratful.

Important points to discuss from this story are-

1. The teacher/ Prajapati didn’t give the seekers; a direct answer to their query. He didn’t just tell them that the prana is the most superior among them and all of them were powerless without him/prana. But he gave them a practical lession. He wanted them to know the answer with their own understanding and experience.

2. When a person is in egoistic mood, he cannot understand and appreciate the truth. One needs clear and calm mind to analyse the things.
One can not understand the things fully;  only with the theoretical knowledge, unless one gets some personal experience. Sense organs were in the egoistic mood and that is  why they needed the practical bitter lesson to know the Truth.
3. The prana divides himself in to five distinct channels and supports the whole subtle and gross body to function. I.e. It vitalizes/ energizes every cell of the gross body by getting devided in five energies to support the systems of the physical  body.- prana( respiratory system), vyana ( circulatory system), apana ( excretory system), samana ( digestive system), udana ( reversal processes and passing of the body), and every component of the subtle body.

4. Prana is the link between the subtle and gross body. That means, if this link is cut (prana departs ), subtle body is separated from the gross body and this is what we call the death of the physical body. (The Prana; that was working in the physical body is withdrawn into the subtle body.)

5. We suffer from various medical ailments;  physical or mental. These ailments arise because of the weakness of respective pranas. E.g. If samana vayu is weak, one has to suffer from digestive and assimilative disorders.

6. The Breath we take, ( inhalation and exhalation)  is the external manifestation of the vital force/ Prana. It is the gross respiration. Prana is subtle energy behind this manifested breath.

7. Every sense organ is unique and special. Experience and knowledge one gets through these senses are adorable. It is said that one who has all his senses in good condition; is the blessed one. No one is less or more superior over the others but there is a harmonious relationship among all.

“Eyes see a beautiful waterfall….
Ears hear the melodeous sound of the water…
Skin feels the cool touch of the water…
Tongue tastes the sweetness of the water…
Nose smells the earthly flavour…..And,
Thus mind becomes cheerful…
So the legs dance….
And the hands clap…
thus the one sings the song of glory of the Lord…..

Behind all this live concert, there is the backup of the prana….which sprungs from the Lord/ The Brahman Itself.

So when all the organs understood that they are dependent upon a single factor, the prana to live, they naturally  appreciated and surrendered to him with gratitude.

Nondual Brahman is the only substratum for entire universe. The Only One; behind the many….let’s appreciate It and surrender…!

  Hari Om !