Shloka 35
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
न गुणा विदुरात्मानं स गुणान् वेद सर्वतः । परिद्रष्टा गुणानां तु संस्रष्टा मन्यते यथा
na guṇā vidur ātmānaṃ sa guṇān veda sarvataḥ | paridraṣṭā guṇānāṃ tu saṃsraṣṭā manyate yathā ||
Bhishma said: The material qualities (guṇas) do not know the Self; but the Self knows the qualities in every way. Though the Self is the witness and observer of the qualities, deluded people imagine it to be mixed with them—as if bound up with their workings.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The guṇas, being insentient aspects of material nature, cannot apprehend the conscious Self; rather, the Self illuminates and knows the guṇas. Liberation-oriented discernment comes from recognizing the Self as the witness, not as something truly compounded with sattva, rajas, and tamas.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma continues his philosophical teaching, clarifying the relation between the conscious ātman and the material guṇas, and correcting the common delusion that the Self is inherently entangled with them.