Shloka 17
Adhyāya 353 — Kathā-prāmāṇya (Authority of Transmission) and the Brāhmaṇa’s Ascetic Resolve
यत् तत्कृत्स्नं लोकतन्त्रस्य धाम वेद्यं परं बोधनीयं स बोद्धा । मन्ता मन्तव्यं प्राशिता प्राशनीयं घ्राता प्रेयं स्पर्शिता स्पर्शनीयम्
yat tat kṛtsnaṁ lokatantrasya dhāma vedyaṁ paraṁ bodhanīyaṁ sa boddhā | mantā mantavyaṁ prāśitā prāśanīyaṁ ghrātā preyaṁ sparśitā sparśanīyam ||
Bhīṣma said: That which is the all-encompassing ground and sustaining abode of the entire order of the world—knowable, supreme, and to be realized—is itself the Knower. It is the one who thinks and the very object of thought; the enjoyer and what is enjoyed; the smeller and what is to be smelled; the toucher and what is to be touched.
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme Reality (Param Puruṣa) is both the subject and the object of experience: knower and knowable, thinker and thought, enjoyer and enjoyed, perceiver and perceived. This points to an underlying unity behind all dualities, encouraging detachment from ego-based ownership and a steadier ethical vision.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher wisdom after the war. Here he shifts from practical governance to contemplative metaphysics, describing the Supreme principle as the foundation of the world-order and the inner reality present in all cognition and sense-experience.