Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
प्रश्लिष्टं चन जानन्ति यथा55प इव पांसव: । इसी तरह ये इन्द्रियाँ और विषय परस्पर एक-दूसरेसे मिल-जुलकर भी नहीं जान सकते। जैसे कि जल और धूल परस्पर मिलकर भी अपने सम्मिश्रणको नहीं जानते
praśliṣṭaṁ ca na jānanti yathā āpa iva pāṁsavaḥ |
Ipinaliwanag ni Bhishma: “Kahit ang dalawang bagay ay mahigpit na magkadikit, maaari pa ring wala silang kamalayan sa pagkakadikit na iyon. Gaya ng tubig at alikabok na naghahalo ngunit hindi ‘nalalaman’ ang sariling paghahalo, gayundin ang mga pandama at ang kanilang mga bagay—bagama’t laging nagtatagpo—ay walang kaalamang may kamalayang-sarili tungkol sa kanilang pag-uugnay.”
भीष्य उवाच
Mere contact between the senses and their objects does not constitute true knowledge; awareness and discernment belong to the conscious knower, so one should cultivate discrimination rather than identify with sensory experience.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing on inner discipline and right understanding; here he uses the image of water mixed with dust to illustrate that the senses and their objects, though conjoined, are not self-aware and cannot ‘know’ their own mixture.