Shloka 20
Varāha-avatāra: Viṣṇu’s subterranean intervention and the cosmic nāda (Śānti-parva 202)
श्रोत्रं खतो प्राणमथो पृथिव्या- स्तेजोमयं रूपमथो विपाक: । जलाश्रयं स्वेदमुक्तं रसं च वाय्वात्मक: स्पर्शकृतो गुणश्व
śrotraṃ khato prāṇam atho pṛthivyās tejo-mayaṃ rūpam atho vipākaḥ | jalāśrayaṃ svedam uktaṃ rasaṃ ca vāyv-ātmakaḥ sparśa-kṛto guṇaś ca ||
毗湿摩说：“听觉属虚空（ākāśa）；嗅觉与生命之息（prāṇa）根植于地。色相（可见之形色）与消化转化（vipāka）具火之性。汗与味觉依水而立。触觉——以及使接触得以成立的性质——具风之性。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma explains a Sāṅkhya-style correspondence between the sense faculties/objects and the five great elements: hearing with space, smell and vital functioning with earth, visibility and digestion with fire, taste and sweat with water, and touch with wind. The ethical implication is that understanding the elemental basis of perception supports self-control and detachment.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher knowledge. Here he shifts into an analytical teaching about the body, senses, and elements—framing human experience as a structured interplay of elemental qualities rather than as an absolute self.