Shloka 41

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, क्रोध, लोभ, भय और पाँचवाँ स्वप्र--ये पाँच दोष बताये हैं उनका पूर्णतया उच्छेद करे। इनमेंसे क्रोधको शम (मनोनिग्रह) के द्वारा जीते, कामको संकल्पके त्यागद्वारा पराजित करे तथा धीर पुरुष सत्वगुणका सेवन करनेसे निद्राका उच्छेद कर सकता है

Transliteration

sattvasaṁsevanād dhīro nidrām ucchettum arhati | vidvān yoge ye kāma-krodha-lobha-bhayaṁ ca pañcamaṁ svapnam—ime pañca doṣā uktās teṣāṁ pūrṇatayā ucchedaṁ kuryāt | eteṣu krodhaṁ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṁ saṅkalpa-tyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇa-sevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṁ kartum śaknoti ||

Translation

Vyāsa said: By cultivating sattva, a steadfast person becomes fit to cut off sleep. A learned practitioner should completely uproot the five faults taught in yoga—desire, anger, greed, fear, and, as the fifth, dreaming. Among these, he should conquer anger through śama (the restraint of the mind), overcome desire by abandoning compulsive resolve and craving-intention, and by sustained reliance on the sattva-quality the resolute person can bring sleep to an end. The teaching frames self-mastery as the ethical foundation of yogic life: inner discipline, not external force, is the means to freedom from the mind’s disturbances.

Word by Word

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

• nurturing clarity, balance, and purity', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed, courageous in restraint', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• also a tamasic dulling of awareness', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off, eradicate, uproot', 'vidvān': 'the learned one

• a discerning practitioner', 'yoga': 'discipline of integration

• method of inner control and liberation', 'kāma': 'desire, craving, sensual/mental longing', 'krodha': 'anger, wrath

• reactive heat of mind', 'lobha': 'greed, grasping, covetousness', 'bhaya': 'fear

• anxiety and insecurity', 'svapna': 'dreaming

• mental projection during sleep', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, affliction that obstructs practice', 'śama': 'calmness

• pacification and restraint of the mind', 'manonigraha': 'control/restraint of the mind', 'saṅkalpa': 'resolve, intention, mental construction

• often the seed of craving and agitation', 'tyāga': 'abandonment, relinquishment'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that yogic progress depends on uprooting five inner defects—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dreaming—using specific remedies: anger is subdued by śama (mental restraint), desire is weakened by abandoning saṅkalpa (craving-driven resolve), and sleep is overcome through sustained cultivation of sattva (clarity and balance).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and inner discipline, Vyāsa speaks as a teacher, outlining practical methods for self-mastery. The focus is not on external events but on ethical-psychological training that supports yoga and peace of mind.