Shloka 17
Adhyāya 214: Tapas Redefined—Perpetual Discipline, Hospitality, and the Ethics of Eating (तपः-निरूपणम्, विघसाशी-अतिथिप्रिय-धर्मः)
दश विद्याद् धमन्यो<त्र पज्चेन्द्रियगुणावहा: । याभि: सूक्ष्मा: प्रतायन्ते धमन्यो5न्या: सहस्रश:
daśa vidyād dhamanyo 'tra pañcendriyaguṇāvahāḥ | yābhiḥ sūkṣmāḥ pratāyante dhamanyo 'nyāḥ sahasraśaḥ ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: Sa katawang ito, dapat maunawaan na may sampung pangunahing daluyan (dhamanī) na nagdadala ng mga katangian ng limang pandama—tunog at iba pa—na nagbibigay-kakayahan sa pagdama. Kasama ng mga ito, may libu-libong iba pang maseselang daluyan na nakakalat sa buong katawan. Inilalagay ng aral ang katawan ng tao bilang isang maayos na larangan ng mga tungkulin; at ang disiplinadong pag-unawa sa katawan ay sumusuporta sa etikal na pagpipigil-sa-sarili at sa katatagan ng isip.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a structured view of the body: ten principal channels convey the sensory qualities, while innumerable subtle channels pervade the body. Such knowledge supports self-mastery—understanding how perception arises helps one regulate desire, restraint, and ethical conduct.
In the Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and allied disciplines. Here he shifts into an explanatory, quasi-physiological account of the body’s internal channels and their role in sensory experience, as part of a broader teaching on self-knowledge and control.