Shloka 50

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

Transliteration

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

Translation

Dijo Vyāsa: Al cultivar la cualidad de sattva, el hombre firme se vuelve capaz de cortar el sueño. Los sabios declaran que en la disciplina del yoga hay cinco faltas—deseo, ira, codicia, miedo y, como quinta, el soñar—y deben ser arrancadas por completo. Entre ellas, la ira se conquista con serena autodisciplina; el deseo se derrota abandonando la resolución compulsiva; y, apoyándose de continuo en sattva, el resuelto puede vencer al sueño mismo.

Word by Word

• {'sattva': 'purity, clarity, luminous balance (one of the guṇas)', 'sattva-saṃsevana': 'cultivation/constant resort to sattva', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed, resolute person', 'nidrā': 'sleep, torpor', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off

• eradication, uprooting', 'vidvān': 'the wise, learned person', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

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

• dream-state distraction', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, obstacle', 'śama': 'calmness

• mental restraint', 'manonigraha': 'control of the mind', 'saṅkalpa': 'volitional resolve, intention (often desire-driven)', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandonment of (desire-laden) resolve'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Yoga requires uprooting five inner obstacles—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dreaming. Anger is mastered through śama (calm self-restraint), desire through giving up saṅkalpa (compulsive intention), and sleep/torpor through sustained cultivation of sattva.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the instruction-heavy Shānti Parva, Vyāsa speaks as a teacher, listing psychological impediments to yogic steadiness and prescribing specific counter-practices to overcome them.