Shloka 8
Bhṛgu–Bharadvāja-saṃvāda: Vānaprastha-parivrājaka-ācāra, Abhaya-dharma, and Lokānāṃ Vibhāga (Śānti-parva 185)
न शृण्वन्ति न पश्यन्ति न गन्धरसवेदिन: । न च स्पर्श विजानन्ति ते कथं पाउ्चभौतिका:
bharadvāja uvāca |
na śṛṇvanti na paśyanti na gandharasa-vedinaḥ |
na ca sparśaṁ vijānanti te kathaṁ pañcabhautikāḥ ||
婆罗堕阇说道：“它们不闻、不见，不觉香与味，亦不知触；如此又怎能称为‘由五大所成’？”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse questions how something can be termed ‘pañcabhūtika’ (composed of the five gross elements) if it lacks the functioning of the five sense-perceptions (hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch). It pushes the inquiry into what truly constitutes embodied existence—mere material composition, or the presence of operative faculties (indriyas) and consciousness.
In a philosophical dialogue within Śānti Parva, Bharadvāja raises a pointed doubt: if certain beings or states are described as elemental bodies, why are the sensory experiences absent? The question challenges the interlocutor to clarify the relation between the gross elements, the sense-organs, and the experiencing self.