Shloka 29
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
ज्ञानेन्द्रियाण्यत: पठच पज््च कर्मेन्द्रियाण्यपि । विषया: पञ्च चैकं॑ च विकारे षोडशं मन:,पाँच ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ, पाँच कर्मेन्द्रियाँ, पाँच विषय और एक मन--ये सोलह विकार कहे गये हैं। (इनमें मन तो अहंकारका विकार है और अन्य पन्द्रह अपने-अपने कारणरूप सूक्ष्म महाभूतोंके विकार हैं)
jñānendriyāṇy ataḥ pañca pañca karmendriyāṇy api | viṣayāḥ pañca caikaṃ ca vikāre ṣoḍaśaṃ manaḥ ||
अथ पञ्च ज्ञानेन्द्रियाणि पञ्च कर्मेन्द्रियाणि च । पञ्च विषयाः मनश्चैकं—षोडशैते विकाराः स्मृताः ॥ एतान् देहगतांश्चैव यथावत् परिजानतः । आत्मानात्मविवेकः स्यात् संयमाचारसिद्धये ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma enumerates the components of embodied experience: five sense faculties, five action faculties, five sense-objects, and the mind—together called sixteen modifications. The teaching supports discernment (viveka): these are instruments and products of change, not the enduring self, and recognizing this aids self-control and ethical living.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and liberation-oriented knowledge. Here he is presenting a Sāṅkhya-style analysis of the psycho-physical apparatus, classifying the senses, their objects, and the mind as evolutes to be understood and mastered.