Shloka 18
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
गुणै्नेनीयते बुद्धिर्बुद्धिरेवेन्द्रियाणि च । मन:षष्ठानि सर्वाणि बुद्धाभावे कुतो गुणा:
guṇair nīyate buddhir buddhir evendriyāṇi ca | manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhāni sarvāṇi buddhābhāve kuto guṇāḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “The intellect (buddhi) is guided by the qualities (guṇas), and the intellect in turn directs the senses—together with the mind (manas) as the sixth. But if there is no buddhi, from where could the guṇas operate with any meaning at all? Therefore ethical conduct depends upon the presence and governance of buddhi, which orders the inner faculties and makes discernment possible.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ethical life and self-mastery depend on buddhi (discriminative intellect). The guṇas condition the intellect, and the intellect governs the senses and mind; without buddhi’s functioning, the guṇas cannot be meaningfully expressed as ordered virtues or controlled tendencies.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and inner discipline, Bhīṣma explains the hierarchy of inner faculties: guṇas influence buddhi, buddhi directs the senses (with mind as the sixth). He emphasizes that the absence of buddhi collapses moral discernment and orderly conduct.