Shloka 231
Śukasya Janma-yoga-phalaṁ — Vyāsasya Tapasā Putrārthaḥ (Śānti-parva 310)
श्रोत्रं त्वक् चैव चक्षुश्न जिद्दा प्राणं च पजचमम् । सर्ग तु षष्ठमित्याहुर्बहुचिन्तात्मक॑ स्मृतम्
śrotraṃ tvak caiva cakṣuś ca jihvā prāṇaṃ ca pañcamam | sargaṃ tu ṣaṣṭham ity āhur bahucintātmakam smṛtam ||
Yājñavalkya sprach: „Hören, Tasten, Sehen, Schmecken (die Zunge) und der Lebenshauch (prāṇa) gelten als die Fünf. Was aber ‘sarga’—Schöpfung bzw. Schöpfungsimpuls—betrifft, so wird es als das Sechste erklärt. Dieses Gefüge der Vermögen wird als ein ‘vielgedankiges’, ruhelos erwägendes Prinzip erinnert.“
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse classifies the human faculties: five primary sense/life functions (hearing, touch, sight, taste, and prāṇa) and adds a sixth called sarga—an inner projecting/creative impulse—highlighting how this complex becomes ‘many-thoughted’ and thus a source of mental restlessness that must be understood for self-mastery.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, the sage Yājñavalkya is explaining a philosophical analysis of the embodied being, enumerating faculties to guide the listener toward discernment (viveka) and ethical self-control.