Shloka 49

Adhyāya 240: Indriya–Manas–Buddhi–Ātman — The Inner Hierarchy and Restraint (इन्द्रिय-मनस्-बुद्धि-आत्म-क्रमः)

Devanagari script

सत्त्वसंसेवनाद धीरो निद्रामुच्छेत्तुमरहति । विद्वानोंने योगके जो काम

Transliteration

sattvasaṃsevanād dhīro nidrām ucchettum arhati | vidvān yogake ye doṣāḥ kāmaḥ krodhaḥ lobhaḥ bhayaṃ pañcamaś ca svapnaḥ—ete pañca doṣān pūrṇatayā ucchedayet | eṣu krodhaṃ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṃ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṃsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṃ kartum śaknoti |

Translation

ব্যাস বললেন—সত্ত্বের অনুশীলনে ধীর পুরুষ নিদ্রাকে ছেদন করতে সক্ষম হয়। যোগসাধনায় বিঘ্নকারী পাঁচ দোষ বিদ্বানেরা বলেছেন—কাম, ক্রোধ, লোভ, ভয় এবং পঞ্চম স্বপ্ন (নিদ্রাজাত মোহ); এ পাঁচটিকে সম্পূর্ণরূপে মূলসহ উৎপাটন করা উচিত। এদের মধ্যে ক্রোধকে শম—অর্থাৎ মনোনিগ্রহ দ্বারা জয় করবে; কামকে সংকল্প-ত্যাগে পরাভূত করবে; আর সত্ত্বগুণের আশ্রয়ে ধীর ব্যক্তি নিদ্রা ও আলস্যকে অতিক্রম করে।

Word by Word

• {'sattva-saṃsevana': 'cultivation/association with sattva

• nurturing clarity, balance, and purity', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed, resolute person', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• also lethargy and dullness that obstructs practice', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off, uproot, eradicate', 'vidvān': 'the wise, learned person', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

• meditative and ethical practice', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, obstacle', 'kāma': 'desire, craving, sensual/egoic impulse', 'krodha': 'anger, wrath', 'lobha': 'greed, grasping', 'bhaya': 'fear, anxiety', 'svapna': 'dream

• here linked with sleep and dream-born distraction', 'śama': 'calmness

• restraint', 'manonigraha': 'control/discipline of the mind', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandoning (compulsive) resolve/intentions

• renunciation of craving-driven plans', 'parājayet / jayet': 'should defeat / should conquer', 'sattva-guṇa': 'the quality of clarity, light, harmony'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Yoga is hindered by five inner defects—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dream/sleep-born distraction. They must be uprooted: anger through śama (mental restraint), desire through saṅkalpa-tyāga (renouncing craving-driven intentions), and lethargy/sleep through sustained cultivation of sattva.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa instructs on inner discipline. The focus is not external action but ethical-psychological training: identifying obstacles to yogic steadiness and prescribing concrete methods to overcome them.