Shloka 34
तद्धत् सोमगुणा जिद्ना गन्धस्तु पृथिवीगुण: । श्रोत्रं नभोगुणं चैव चक्षुरग्नेर्गुणस्तथा । स्पर्श वायुगुणं विद्यात् सर्वभूतेषु सर्वदा,जिह्ना जलका कार्य है, प्राणेन्द्रिय पृथ्वीका कार्य है, श्रवणेन्द्रिय आकाशका और नेत्रेन्द्रिय अग्निका कार्य है तथा सम्पूर्ण भूतोंमें त्वचा नामकी इन्द्रियको सदा वायुका कार्य समझना चाहिये
tad dhrāt somaguṇā jihvā gandhas tu pṛthivīguṇaḥ | śrotraṃ nabhoguṇaṃ caiva cakṣur agner guṇas tathā | sparśaṃ vāyuguṇaṃ vidyāt sarvabhūteṣu sarvadā ||
Bhīṣma said: The tongue should be understood as bearing the quality associated with Soma—taste and sap. Smell is the quality of earth. Hearing belongs to the quality of space (ākāśa). Sight likewise is the quality of fire. And touch should always be known as the quality of wind, in all beings at all times. Thus the senses are taught as operating through elemental qualities, leading to discernment of the body’s nature and detachment from mere sensory identification.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse maps each sense faculty to the dominant quality of a classical element—taste/tongue with Soma-like rasa, smell with earth, hearing with space, sight with fire, and touch with wind—so that one understands sensory experience as elemental and conditioned, not as the true Self.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira in philosophical discernment and dharma after the war. Here he explains a cosmological-psychological framework: how the senses operate through elemental qualities across all beings, supporting contemplation, restraint, and liberation-oriented understanding.