Shloka 11
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
रूप॑ चक्षुविपाकश्च त्रिविधं ज्योतिरुच्यते । घ्रेयं प्राणं शरीरं च एते भूमिगुणा: स्मृता:
rūpaṃ cakṣurvipākaś ca trividhaṃ jyotir ucyate | ghreyaṃ prāṇaṃ śarīraṃ ca ete bhūmiguṇāḥ smṛtāḥ ||
毗湿摩说明：火与光之原理（tejas）可由三种作用而知——可见之色相（rūpa）、眼根（cakṣus）、以及消化与转化（vipāka）。同样，大地之原理（bhūmi）亦以三种特征而被识别——香臭之境（ghrāṇya）、生命之气（prāṇa）、以及形体之躯（śarīra）。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma classifies how elemental principles are inferred in the human system: tejas is known through form, sight, and digestion; earth is known through smell, vital breath, and the bodily structure. This supports ethical self-mastery by analyzing experience into elemental functions rather than identifying the Self with them.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma continues a philosophical exposition to Yudhiṣṭhira, explaining the constituents and qualities of embodied life through elemental categories and their observable functions.