Shloka 35
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
न गुणा विदुरात्मानं स गुणान् वेद सर्वतः । परिद्रष्टा गुणानां तु संस्रष्टा मन्यते यथा
na guṇā vidur ātmānaṃ sa guṇān veda sarvataḥ | paridraṣṭā guṇānāṃ tu saṃsraṣṭā manyate yathā ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «Las cualidades materiales (guṇas) no conocen al Sí mismo; pero el Sí mismo conoce las cualidades en todo sentido. Aunque el Sí mismo es el testigo y observador de las cualidades, los extraviados lo imaginan mezclado con ellas, como si estuviera atado a sus operaciones».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The guṇas, being insentient aspects of material nature, cannot apprehend the conscious Self; rather, the Self illuminates and knows the guṇas. Liberation-oriented discernment comes from recognizing the Self as the witness, not as something truly compounded with sattva, rajas, and tamas.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma continues his philosophical teaching, clarifying the relation between the conscious ātman and the material guṇas, and correcting the common delusion that the Self is inherently entangled with them.