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 ||
ビーシュマは言った。「識別の知（ブッディ buddhi）はグナ（guṇa、性質）によって導かれ、またそのブッディが、意（マナス manas）を第六として、諸感官を統べる。だがブッディがなければ、グナはいったいどこから意味ある働きを得ようか。ゆえに倫理の行いは、内なる諸機能を整え、分別を可能にするブッディの存立と統御に依るのである。」
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.