Shloka 11
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
रूप॑ चक्षुविपाकश्च त्रिविधं ज्योतिरुच्यते । घ्रेयं प्राणं शरीरं च एते भूमिगुणा: स्मृता:
rūpaṃ cakṣurvipākaś ca trividhaṃ jyotir ucyate | ghreyaṃ prāṇaṃ śarīraṃ ca ete bhūmiguṇāḥ smṛtāḥ ||
Bhīṣma explica que o princípio do fogo/luz (tejas) é compreendido por três funções: a forma visível (rūpa), o olho (cakṣus) e a digestão/transformação metabólica (vipāka). Do mesmo modo, o princípio da terra (bhūmi) é reconhecido por três traços: o cheiro (ghrāṇya), o sopro vital (prāṇa) e a estrutura do corpo (śarīra).
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma classifies how elemental principles are inferred in the human system: tejas is known through form, sight, and digestion; earth is known through smell, vital breath, and the bodily structure. This supports ethical self-mastery by analyzing experience into elemental functions rather than identifying the Self with them.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma continues a philosophical exposition to Yudhiṣṭhira, explaining the constituents and qualities of embodied life through elemental categories and their observable functions.