Shloka 9
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
शुक्लवासाश्न दुर्वासा: शायी नित्यमधस्तथा । मण्डूकशायी च तथा वीरासनगतस्तथा
śuklavāsāśn durvāsāḥ śayī nityam adhastathā | maṇḍūkaśāyī ca tathā vīrāsanagatas tathā ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “At times he wears freshly washed white garments, and at other times filthy, torn, and worn-out clothes. Sometimes he lies upon the bare earth; sometimes he sleeps curled up like a frog, with limbs drawn in. At times he sits in the heroic posture (vīrāsana), and at times he lives beneath the open sky.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes non-attachment and inner steadiness: the disciplined person remains free from dependence on comfort, status, or outward appearance, accepting alternations of ease and hardship as part of self-mastery.
Vasiṣṭha is describing the conduct of an austere practitioner, listing contrasting modes of dress and rest—clean vs. dirty clothes, sleeping on the ground vs. curled up, sitting in vīrāsana vs. staying under the open sky—to illustrate a life of deliberate simplicity and restraint.