Shloka 11
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
रूप॑ चक्षुविपाकश्च त्रिविधं ज्योतिरुच्यते । घ्रेयं प्राणं शरीरं च एते भूमिगुणा: स्मृता:
rūpaṃ cakṣurvipākaś ca trividhaṃ jyotir ucyate | ghreyaṃ prāṇaṃ śarīraṃ ca ete bhūmiguṇāḥ smṛtāḥ ||
Bhīṣma explains that the principle of fire/light (tejas) is understood through three functions: visible form, the eye, and digestion/metabolic transformation. Likewise, the principle of earth (bhūmi) is recognized through three features: smell, the vital breath, and the bodily frame.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma classifies how elemental principles are inferred in the human system: tejas is known through form, sight, and digestion; earth is known through smell, vital breath, and the bodily structure. This supports ethical self-mastery by analyzing experience into elemental functions rather than identifying the Self with them.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma continues a philosophical exposition to Yudhiṣṭhira, explaining the constituents and qualities of embodied life through elemental categories and their observable functions.