Shloka 29
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
ज्ञानेन्द्रियाण्यत: पठच पज््च कर्मेन्द्रियाण्यपि । विषया: पञ्च चैकं॑ च विकारे षोडशं मन:
jñānendriyāṇy ataḥ pañca pañca karmendriyāṇy api | viṣayāḥ pañca caikaṃ ca vikāre ṣoḍaśaṃ manaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «Luego vienen los cinco órganos del conocimiento y también los cinco órganos de la acción. Junto con los cinco objetos de los sentidos y la única mente—éstos son declarados dieciséis modificaciones. Al comprender estos constituyentes de la experiencia encarnada, se aprende a distinguir el sí mismo de los instrumentos cambiantes de la percepción y del obrar, paso decisivo hacia el dominio de uno mismo y la recta conducta».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma enumerates the components of embodied experience: five sense faculties, five action faculties, five sense-objects, and the mind—together called sixteen modifications. The teaching supports discernment (viveka): these are instruments and products of change, not the enduring self, and recognizing this aids self-control and ethical living.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and liberation-oriented knowledge. Here he is presenting a Sāṅkhya-style analysis of the psycho-physical apparatus, classifying the senses, their objects, and the mind as evolutes to be understood and mastered.