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 ||
Bhīṣma dit : « L’intellect de discernement (buddhi) est conduit par les qualités (guṇa), et cet intellect, à son tour, gouverne les sens—avec le mental (manas) pour sixième. Mais s’il n’y a pas de buddhi, d’où les qualités pourraient-elles agir avec un sens véritable ? Ainsi, la conduite juste dépend de la présence et de la maîtrise de la buddhi, qui ordonne les facultés intérieures et rend le discernement possible. »
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.