Shloka 42
मनु-उपदेशः — भूत-उत्पत्ति, इन्द्रिय-निवृत्ति, तथा पर-स्वभाव-विवेकः
Manu’s Instruction on Elemental Origination, Sense-Withdrawal, and Discrimination of the Supreme Nature
इन्द्रियैस्तु प्रदीपार्थ कुरुते बुद्धिसप्तमै: । निर्विचेष्टेरजानद्धिः परमात्मा प्रदीपवत्,जैसे घड़ेमें रखा हुआ दीपक घड़ेके छेदोंसे अपना प्रकाश फैलाकर वस्तुओंका ज्ञान कराता है, उसी प्रकार परमात्मा शरीरके भीतर स्थित होकर चेष्टा और ज्ञानसे शून्य इन्द्रियों तथा मन-बुद्धि इन सातोंके द्वारा सम्पूर्ण पदार्थोका अनुभव कराता है
indriyaistu pradīpārthaṃ kurute buddhisaptamaiḥ | nirviceṣṭerajānaḍḍhiḥ paramātmā pradīpavat ||
Bhīṣma said: The Supreme Self, though itself actionless and not a knower in the manner of the instruments, makes the senses serve as a lamp for illumination through the sevenfold apparatus—mind and intellect along with the senses. Like a lamp placed inside a pot that spreads its light through the pot’s openings and thereby enables the recognition of objects, so the Paramātman, abiding within the body, enables the experience and apprehension of all things by means of these otherwise inert faculties.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Consciousness (Paramātman) is the inner illuminator: the senses, mind, and intellect are inert instruments that function like openings for a lamp’s light. Knowing and experience occur because the Self ‘lights up’ these faculties, not because the faculties are independently conscious.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and liberation-oriented wisdom. Here he uses a vivid metaphor (lamp inside a pot) to explain how the inner Self enables cognition through the bodily instruments, supporting a teaching on the distinction between the Self and the psycho-physical apparatus.