Shloka 13
Śukasya Janma-yoga-phalaṁ — Vyāsasya Tapasā Putrārthaḥ (Śānti-parva 310)
शब्द: स्पर्शक्ष रूपं च रसो गन्धस्तथैव च । वाक् च हस्तौ च पादौ च पायुर्मेढ्ें तथैव च,ये आठ प्रकृतियाँ कही गयीं। अब मुझसे विकारोंका भी वर्णन सुनो-श्रोत्र, त्वचा, नेत्र, जिह्ठा, पाँचवीं नासिका, शब्द, स्पर्श, रूप, रस, गन्ध, वाणी, हाथ, पैर, लिंग और गुदा
śabdaḥ sparśaś ca rūpaṃ ca raso gandhas tathaiva ca | vāk ca hastau ca pādau ca pāyur meḍhraṃ tathaiva ca ||
Yājñavalkya said: “Sound, touch, form, taste, and smell; and likewise speech, the two hands, the two feet, the anus, and the generative organ—these are enumerated. Now hear from me also the account of the modifications (vikāras): the ear, the skin, the eye, the tongue, and fifth the nose—together with sound, touch, form, taste, smell, speech, hands, feet, the organ of generation, and the anus.” In this teaching, the sage classifies the constituents of embodied experience to cultivate discernment and detachment, guiding the listener toward self-mastery and liberation rather than identification with the senses and their functions.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse classifies the sense-objects and organs of action as enumerated constituents, then points to their ‘modifications’ (vikāras). The purpose is discriminative knowledge: recognizing bodily and sensory functions as components of nature rather than the Self, fostering detachment and progress toward mokṣa.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, the sage Yājñavalkya is instructing his listener(s) by listing categories of embodied experience—sense-objects and action-organs—and then transitioning to explain their derivative manifestations, continuing a systematic philosophical exposition.