Shloka 98
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
राजन! जैसे काठके साथ लाह और धूलके साथ पानीकी बूंदें मिलकर एक हो जाती हैं, उसी प्रकार इस जगतमें प्राणियोंका जन्म कई तत्त्वोंके मेलसे होता है ।।
rājan! yathā kāṭhena sārdhaṃ lākṣā dhūlinā sārdhaṃ ca jalabindavaḥ saṃmilitā ekībhavanti, tathā asmin jagati prāṇināṃ janma anekatattvasaṃyogāt bhavati. śabdaḥ sparśo raso rūpaṃ gandhaḥ pañcendriyāṇi ca | pṛthag ātmānam ātmānaṃ saṃśliṣṭā jatukāṣṭhavat ||
Bhishma said: “O king, just as lac fuses with wood and drops of water merge with dust to become one, so too in this world the birth of living beings arises from the conjunction of many elements. Sound, touch, taste, form, and smell—together with the five senses—though distinct in themselves, become interwoven with the self, as lac clings to wood.”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches that embodied life arises from a composite of multiple principles (tattvas): the sense-objects and the senses become tightly interwoven with the self in lived experience, even though they are analytically distinct. The metaphor urges discernment—recognizing the difference between the self and the sensory complex—supporting ethical steadiness and detachment.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to the king, Bhishma continues a philosophical explanation of how beings come to be embodied and how perception binds the self to the world. He illustrates the fusion of components through everyday images (lac with wood; water with dust) to make the metaphysical point vivid.