Shloka 22
Doṣa-Parīkṣā and Guṇa-Viveka
Examination of Faults and Discernment of the Guṇas
यथा पज्च विमुक्तानि इन्द्रियाणि स्वकर्मभि: । तथा हि परमं ब्रह्म विमुक्तं प्रकृते: परम्,जैसे पाँचों इन्द्रियाँ अपने कार्यरूप शब्द आदि गुणोंसे भिन्न हैं, उसी प्रकार परब्रह्म परमात्मा भी प्रकृतिसे सर्वथा परे है
yathā pañca vimuktāni indriyāṇi svakarmabhiḥ | tathā hi paramaṃ brahma vimuktaṃ prakṛteḥ param ||
Bhishma said: “Just as the five sense-faculties are distinct from their own operations—such as sound and the other sense-objects—so too the Supreme Brahman, the highest Self, is utterly free from and beyond Prakriti (material nature).”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches transcendence: Brahman (the Supreme Self) is not a product of Prakriti and is untouched by material qualities and operations, just as the senses are distinct from the objects/functions they engage with.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma continues his philosophical discourse to Yudhishthira, using an analogy of the five senses to clarify that the highest reality (Brahman) stands beyond material nature.