Shloka 1013
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
रूप॑ चक्षुः प्रकाशश्व दर्शने हेतवस्त्रय: । शरीरस्थ इन्द्रियाँ विषयोंका प्रत्यक्ष अनुभव करते समय अन्यान्य बाह्य गुणोंकी अपेक्षा रखती हैं। उन गुणोंको आप मुझसे सुनिये। रूप
rūpaṃ cakṣuḥ prakāśaś ca darśane hetavas trayaḥ |
Bhīṣma explains that direct perception does not arise from a sense organ alone. When the senses abiding in the body apprehend an object plainly, they depend upon other external conditions. Hear from me: for seeing there are three causes—the visible form (the object), the eye (the organ of sight), and light (illumination).
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Seeing (and by extension sense-knowledge) arises from multiple necessary conditions: an object with form, a functioning sense organ, and illumination. Bhīṣma emphasizes causal dependence in cognition, encouraging careful discrimination about how knowledge is produced.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional discourse, Bhīṣma continues teaching about the workings of the senses and perception. Here he specifies the three requisites for visual perception—form, eye, and light—as part of a broader explanation of how embodied beings experience objects.