Shloka 81
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
ज्ञान ज्ञेयेषु भिन्नेषु यदा भेदेन वर्तते । तत्रातिशायिनी बुद्धिस्तत् सौक्ष्म्यमिति वर्तते,जहाँ अनेक भित्न-भिन्न ज्ञेय (अर्थ) उपस्थित हों और “यह घट है, यह पट है” इस प्रकार वस्तुओंका पृथक्-पृथक् ज्ञान होता हो, ऐसे स्थलोंमें यथार्थ निर्णय करनेवाली जो बुद्धि है, उसीका नाम सौक्ष्म्य है
jñāna-jñeyeṣu bhinneṣu yadā bhedena vartate | tatrātiśāyinī buddhis tat saukṣmyam iti vartate ||
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयेषु भिन्नेषु यदा भेदेन वर्तते । तत्रातिशायिनी बुद्धिस्तत् सौक्ष्म्यमिति वर्तते ॥
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Saukṣmya (subtlety) is defined as the superior discriminative intellect that can correctly distinguish among multiple distinct objects of knowledge and arrive at an accurate determination.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and wisdom, Bhīṣma is explaining a technical quality of intellect: how true understanding functions when many knowable things appear and one must judge precisely by distinguishing them.