Shloka 38

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 pañcamaṃ svapnam iti pañca doṣān uktavān, tān sarvathā samucchinatti | teṣāṃ madhye krodhaṃ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṃ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṃsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṃ kartum arhati ||

Translation

Vyāsa dit : En cultivant sattva, l’homme résolu devient apte à trancher le sommeil. Les sages, dans la discipline du yoga, ont déclaré cinq défauts—désir, colère, avidité, peur, et, comme cinquième, rêve/égarement—qu’il doit déraciner entièrement. Parmi eux, qu’il vainque la colère par śama, la maîtrise du mental ; qu’il défasse le désir en abandonnant saṅkalpa, la résolution compulsive. Ainsi, par la pratique de la qualité sattva, l’homme déterminé surmonte le sommeil et demeure éveillé dans la maîtrise de soi.

Word by Word

• {'sattva-saṃsevana': 'cultivation/constant resort to sattva (clarity, purity, balance)', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed, resolute person', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• lethargy/drowsiness as an obstacle', 'ucchettum (uccheda)': 'to cut off, eradicate, uproot', 'vidvān': 'the wise

• one who knows', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

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

• dream-state distraction', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, moral/psychological blemish', 'sarvathā': 'completely, in every way', 'śama': 'calmness

• pacification of the mind', 'manonigraha': 'control/restraint of the mind', 'saṅkalpa': 'volitional resolve

• intention that fuels desire', 'tyāga': 'renunciation, letting go', 'parājayet': 'should defeat, overcome', 'sattvaguṇa': 'the sattva quality (lucidity, harmony)'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that spiritual progress requires uprooting five inner defects—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dreaming—and that specific remedies apply: anger is conquered by śama (mental restraint), desire by abandoning saṅkalpa (the willful fixation that feeds craving), and sleep is overcome by sustained cultivation of sattva (clarity and balance).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa delivers instruction on yogic discipline and ethical psychology, outlining key obstacles to inner steadiness and prescribing practical methods to overcome them.