Mahabharata — Ashvamedhika Parva, 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 ||
Just as a person, taking a lamp, walks through darkness, so do seekers of the highest Reality proceed along the path of practice by the illumination of the lamp that is sattva—clarity and purity of mind.
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).