Shloka 23
Śakra–Namuci-saṃvāda: Śoka-nivāraṇa and Daiva-vicāra
Indra and Namuci on grief, composure, and inevitability
कर्णो शब्दक्ष॒ चित्तं च त्रयः श्रवणसंग्रहे । तथा स्पर्शे तथा रूपे तथैव रसगन्धयो:,श्रवण-कालमें श्रोत्ररूपी इन्द्रिय, शब्दरूपी विषय और चित्तरूपी कर्ता--इन तीनोंका संयोग होता है, इसी प्रकार स्पर्श, रूप, रस तथा गन्धके अनुभव-कालमें भी इन्द्रिय, विषय एवं मनका संयोग अपेक्षित है
karṇo śabdaś ca cittaṃ ca trayaḥ śravaṇa-saṅgrahe | tathā sparśe tathā rūpe tathaiva rasa-gandhayoḥ ||
Bhishma explains that every act of perception requires a threefold conjunction: the sense-organ, its object, and the mind. In hearing, the ear, sound, and the mind must come together; likewise, in the experience of touch, form, taste, and smell, perception arises only when the relevant faculty meets its object with the mind’s participation. The ethical implication is that experience and action are not merely external events but depend upon inner attention, making self-mastery and mindful restraint central to dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Perception is produced only when three factors unite: the sense-organ, the sense-object, and the mind (citta). Therefore, ethical discipline must include governance of attention and mind, not only external restraint.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and inner discipline, Bhishma is teaching principles of how experience arises through the senses, using hearing as the model and extending the same logic to touch, sight, taste, and smell.