Shloka 21
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
बुद्धि जिसके द्वारा देखती है
bhīṣma uvāca | buddhiḥ yasyāḥ dvārā paśyati tad indriyaṃ dṛṣṭiḥ netram iti nāma | sā eva sva-vṛtti-viśeṣeṇa yadā śṛṇoti tadā śrotram ucyate | gandha-grahaṇe prāṇo bhavati | rasa-āsvādane rasanā ucyate | sparśa-anubhave tvak (sparśendriyam) nāma dhatte | evaṃ buddhiḥ punaḥ punaḥ vikriyate | yadā kiṃcit prārthayate (yācate) tadā manaḥ bhavati || adhiṣṭhānāni buddhā hi pṛthag etāni pañcadhā | indriyāṇīti tāny āhus teṣu duṣṭeṣu duṣyati ||
Bhīṣma said: “The very faculty by which awareness ‘sees’ is called the eye, or sight. That same faculty, taking on a particular mode of operation, becomes the ear when it hears. When it apprehends smell it functions as prāṇa (vital breath); when it tastes it is called the tongue; and when it experiences touch it assumes the name of the skin, the tactile sense. Thus the intellect (buddhi) repeatedly transforms according to its activity. When it seeks or petitions for something, it becomes the mind (manas). The five distinct bases of this knowing faculty are what people call the senses; and when these senses are corrupted, the intellect itself becomes corrupted.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The intellect (buddhi) appears as different sense-faculties depending on its mode of operation; therefore, ethical discipline requires guarding the senses, because when the senses are tainted, the intellect and discernment that guide conduct are also tainted.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he explains an inner, psychological account of perception: one underlying cognitive principle functions as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and also as mind when it desires—linking moral clarity to the purity of sensory engagement.