Shloka 10
Varāha-avatāra: Viṣṇu’s subterranean intervention and the cosmic nāda (Śānti-parva 202)
यथा च राज्ञा बहवो हाामात्या: पृथक् प्रमाणं प्रवदन्ति युक्ता: । तद्वच्छरीरेषु भवन्ति पठच ज्ञानैकदेश: परम: स तेभ्य:,जैसे किसी राजाके द्वारा भिन्न-भिन्न कार्योंमें नियुक्त किये गये बहुत-से मन्त्री अपने पृथक्-पृथक् कार्योॉकी जानकारी राजाको कराते हैं। उसी प्रकार शरीरोंमें स्थित पाँच ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ अपने-अपने एकदेशीय विषयका परिचय राजस्थानीय बुद्धिको देती हैं। जैसे मन्त्रियोंसे राजा श्रेष्ठ है, उसी प्रकार उन पाँचों इन्द्रियोंसे उनका प्रवर्तक वह ज्ञान श्रेष्ठ है
yathā ca rājñā bahavo hāmātyāḥ pṛthak pramāṇaṃ pravadanti yuktāḥ | tadvac charīreṣu bhavanti pañca jñānaikadeśaḥ paramaḥ sa tebhyaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Just as many ministers, each appointed by a king to different duties, report to him separately the facts and measures pertaining to their own departments, so too within the body the five organs of knowledge, each confined to its own limited field, present their respective objects to the intellect that stands in the place of the king. And as the king is superior to his ministers, so the directing principle—knowledge (as gathered and governed by the intellect)—is superior to those five senses.”
भीष्म उवाच