Shloka 49

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 yogake ye doṣāḥ kāmaḥ krodhaḥ lobhaḥ bhayaṃ pañcamaś ca svapnaḥ—ete pañca doṣān pūrṇatayā ucchedayet | eṣu krodhaṃ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṃ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṃsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṃ kartum śaknoti |

Translation

Vyāsa dit : En cultivant sattva—clarté et équilibre—l’homme ferme devient apte à retrancher l’excès de sommeil. Les sages enseignent que cinq fautes entravent le yoga : le désir, la colère, l’avidité, la peur, et, comme cinquième, le rêve (l’illusion liée au sommeil). Il faut les déraciner entièrement. Parmi elles, la colère se vainc par śama, la maîtrise paisible de l’esprit ; le désir se défait en abandonnant les résolutions compulsives et l’élan de convoitise ; et, par un appui constant sur la qualité de sattva, l’homme résolu peut triompher de l’attrait du sommeil et de la torpeur.

Word by Word

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

• nurturing clarity, balance, and purity', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed, resolute person', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• also lethargy and dullness that obstructs practice', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off, uproot, eradicate', 'vidvān': 'the wise, learned person', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

• meditative and ethical practice', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, obstacle', 'kāma': 'desire, craving, sensual/egoic impulse', 'krodha': 'anger, wrath', 'lobha': 'greed, grasping', 'bhaya': 'fear, anxiety', 'svapna': 'dream

• here linked with sleep and dream-born distraction', 'śama': 'calmness

• restraint', 'manonigraha': 'control/discipline of the mind', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandoning (compulsive) resolve/intentions

• renunciation of craving-driven plans', 'parājayet / jayet': 'should defeat / should conquer', 'sattva-guṇa': 'the quality of clarity, light, harmony'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Yoga is hindered by five inner defects—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dream/sleep-born distraction. They must be uprooted: anger through śama (mental restraint), desire through saṅkalpa-tyāga (renouncing craving-driven intentions), and lethargy/sleep through sustained cultivation of sattva.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa instructs on inner discipline. The focus is not external action but ethical-psychological training: identifying obstacles to yogic steadiness and prescribing concrete methods to overcome them.