Shloka 9
Vānaprastha-vṛtti and the Transition toward the Fourth Āśrama (वानप्रस्थवृत्तिः चतुर्थाश्रमोपक्रमश्च)
धर्मोपस्थो हवीवरूथ उपायापायकूबर: । अपानाक्ष: प्राणयुग: प्रज्ञायुर्जीवबन्धन:
vyāsa uvāca | dharmopastho havīvarūtha upāyāpāyakūbaraḥ | apānākṣaḥ prāṇayugaḥ prajñāyur jīvabandhanaḥ ||
Vyāsa said: “This Yoga is like a beautiful chariot. Dharma is its seat; modesty is its covering. The disciplines of right means and the avoidance of wrong are its side-pieces. The apāna-breath is its axle, the prāṇa-breath its yoke; wisdom is its lifespan, and embodied life is its binding-cord. Thus equipped, the self, as the rider, is borne along the pure path of meditation toward the highest goal.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yoga is presented as an integrated ethical-spiritual vehicle: dharma and disciplined method support the practitioner, while mastery of the vital breaths and the cultivation of wisdom sustain progress toward the highest end.
Vyāsa uses an extended chariot allegory to describe the inner equipment of a yogin—ethical foundations, disciplined means, regulated life-breaths, and wisdom—by which the embodied self can travel the contemplative path toward liberation.