Shloka 105
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
अथ द्वादशके तस्मिन् सत्त्वं नामापरो गुण: । महासत्त्वो5ल्पसत्त्वो वा जन्तुर्येनानुमीयते
atha dvādaśake tasmin sattvaṃ nāmāparo guṇaḥ | mahāsattvo 'lpasattvo vā jantur yenānumīyate ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Or, au sein de cet ensemble de douze, il est une autre qualité nommée sattva. Par elle, on déduit qu’un être vivant est de grand sattva ou de faible sattva.»
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma identifies sattva as an additional determining quality: the degree of sattva in a person allows one to judge whether their nature is elevated (mahāsattva) or limited (alpasattva), emphasizing moral-psychological discernment in ethical life.
In the Shanti Parva’s instructional discourse, Bhishma continues a systematic analysis of qualities (guṇas), adding sattva to a previously mentioned twelvefold set and explaining its role as a criterion for assessing beings.