Shloka 14
Śraddhā–Guṇa–Vibhāga Yoga (Faith and the Three Guṇas) — Mahābhārata Book 6, Chapter 39
सर्वेन्द्रियगुणा भासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् । असक्तं सर्वभूच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्त्ू च,वह सम्पूर्ण इन्द्रियोंक विषयोंको जाननेवाला है, परंतु वास्तवमें सब इन्द्रियोंसे रहित है* तथा आसक्ति-रहित होनेपर भी सबका धारण-पोषण करनेवाला और निर्गुण होनेपर भी गुणोंको भोगनेवाला है?
sarvendriya-guṇābhāsaṁ sarvendriya-vivarjitam | asaktaṁ sarva-bhṛc caiva nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca ||
Arjuna sprach: Er scheint die Eigenschaften aller Sinne zu besitzen, und doch ist er in Wahrheit aller Sinne bar. Unangehaftet trägt und erhält er alle Wesen; jenseits der Guṇas, ist er doch auch der Erfahrende der Guṇas.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a paradox used in Indian metaphysics: the Supreme seems to function through all senses and qualities in the world, yet is not limited by bodily organs or material modes. He sustains all beings while remaining unattached, and though beyond the guṇas, He is the inner witness/knower through whom the guṇas are experienced in embodied existence.
In Bhīṣma Parva, Arjuna addresses a profound doctrinal question to the divine teacher on the battlefield context: how the Supreme can be both transcendent (sense-less, nirguṇa, unattached) and immanent (supporting all, present in experience). The question sets up an explanation of the Lord’s nature as both beyond and within the world.