Shloka 14
Mind as Charioteer; Kṣetrajña, Tapas, and Dhyāna-Yoga
Adhyātma-Upadeśa
यथा प्रदीपमादाय कश्चित् तमसि गच्छति । तथा सन्त्वप्रदीपेन गच्छन्ति परमैषिण:
yathā pradīpam ādāya kaścit tamasi gacchati | tathā sattva-pradīpena gacchanti paramaiṣiṇaḥ ||
যেমন কেউ প্রদীপ হাতে অন্ধকারে চলে, তেমনই পরম তত্ত্বের অন্বেষীরা সত্ত্বরূপ প্রদীপের আলোয় সাধনার পথে অগ্রসর হয়।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that sattva—mental clarity, purity, and balance—functions like a lamp for spiritual aspirants. Just as a lamp enables safe movement in darkness, sattva enables discernment and steady progress toward the supreme truth.
Vāyudeva speaks in the Ashvamedhika Parva, offering an instructive metaphor: seekers of the highest goal advance on the path of practice by relying on the illuminating power of sattva, contrasted with the obscuring nature of tamas (darkness).