Shloka 46

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

sattvasaṃsevanād dhīro nidrām ucchettum arhati | vidvān yoge ye kāma-krodha-lobha-bhayaṃ ca pañcamaṃ svapnam—ime pañca doṣā uktās teṣāṃ pūrṇatayā ucchedaṃ kuryāt | teṣu krodhaṃ śamena jayet, kāmaṃ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṃsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṃ kartum arhati ||

Translation

Vyāsa said: By cultivating sattva, a steadfast person becomes fit to cut off sleep. A wise practitioner of yoga should completely uproot the five faults taught by the learned—desire, anger, greed, fear, and, as the fifth, dreaming. Among these, he should conquer anger through śama (inner restraint and mental discipline), and defeat desire by abandoning saṅkalpa (self-serving resolve and imaginative craving). Thus, through sustained reliance on the sattva quality, the resolute person can bring sleep under control and remove it as an obstacle to yoga.

Word by Word

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

• nurturing clarity, balance, purity', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, composed, resolute person', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• also a tamasic obstacle to wakeful discipline', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off, uproot, eradicate', 'arhati': 'is fit/qualified

• is capable', 'vidvān': 'a learned, wise person', 'yoga': 'discipline of integration

• meditative and ethical practice', 'kāma': 'desire, craving', 'krodha': 'anger', 'lobha': 'greed', 'bhaya': 'fear', 'svapna': 'dreaming

• mental projections during sleep', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, moral/psychological blemish', 'śama': 'calmness

• control of mind', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandonment of saṅkalpa

• renunciation of craving-driven intentions and mental constructions', 'jayet': 'should conquer', 'parājayet': 'should defeat, overcome'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches inner conquest as the basis of yoga: uproot five defects—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dreaming—by specific disciplines (anger through śama, desire through abandoning saṅkalpa), and cultivate sattva to overcome sleep as an obstacle to spiritual practice.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the instruction-heavy Shānti Parva context, Vyāsa is presenting practical yogic-ethical guidance: identifying key psychological obstacles and prescribing methods to subdue them, emphasizing sattva as the supportive quality for wakeful, disciplined practice.