Shloka 18
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
गुणै्नेनीयते बुद्धिर्बुद्धिरेवेन्द्रियाणि च । मन:षष्ठानि सर्वाणि बुद्धाभावे कुतो गुणा:
guṇair nīyate buddhir buddhir evendriyāṇi ca | manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhāni sarvāṇi buddhābhāve kuto guṇāḥ ||
Dijo Bhīṣma: “La inteligencia discerniente (buddhi) es guiada por las cualidades (guṇas), y esa misma inteligencia dirige a los sentidos—junto con la mente (manas) como sexto. Pero si no hay buddhi, ¿de dónde podrían operar con sentido alguno esas cualidades? Por ello, la conducta ética depende de la presencia y el gobierno de la buddhi, que ordena las facultades internas y hace posible el discernimiento.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ethical life and self-mastery depend on buddhi (discriminative intellect). The guṇas condition the intellect, and the intellect governs the senses and mind; without buddhi’s functioning, the guṇas cannot be meaningfully expressed as ordered virtues or controlled tendencies.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and inner discipline, Bhīṣma explains the hierarchy of inner faculties: guṇas influence buddhi, buddhi directs the senses (with mind as the sixth). He emphasizes that the absence of buddhi collapses moral discernment and orderly conduct.