Shloka 52

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 yo kāma-krodha-lobha-bhayaṃ ca pañcamaṃ svapnam—ime pañca doṣāḥ proktāḥ—tān pūrṇatayā ucchedayet | eṣāṃ madhye krodhaṃ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṃ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṃsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṃ kartum śaknoti |

Translation

Vyāsa enseigne que l’homme ferme, en cultivant sattva (clarté et équilibre), devient capable de trancher l’attrait du sommeil. Le pratiquant avisé du yoga doit déraciner entièrement les cinq fautes enseignées par les savants : désir, colère, avidité, peur et, comme cinquième, le rêve. Parmi elles, la colère se vainc par śama, la maîtrise de l’esprit ; le désir se défait en abandonnant les résolutions compulsives et les intentions avides ; et, par un appui constant sur sattva, l’homme discipliné peut surmonter le sommeil et demeurer apte à la pratique intérieure.

Word by Word

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

• lethargy/drowsiness as an obstacle', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off, uproot, eradicate', 'arhati': 'is fit/able/deserving to', 'vidvān': 'wise person

• learned practitioner', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

• spiritual practice', 'kāma': 'desire

• craving that agitates the mind', 'krodha': 'anger

• reactive wrath', 'lobha': 'greed

• grasping', 'bhaya': 'fear

• anxiety', 'svapna': 'dream

• dream-state distraction/instability', 'doṣa': 'fault

• mental blemish/defect', 'śama': 'calmness

• pacification of the mind', 'manonigraha': 'control/restraint of the mind', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandoning saṅkalpa (compulsive resolve, intention driven by craving)

• renunciation of desire-constructs', 'jayet': 'should conquer', 'parājayet': 'should defeat/overcome'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches yogic ethics of inner purification: uproot five mental defects—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dream-distraction—by specific remedies (anger through śama/mental restraint, desire through abandoning saṅkalpa), and cultivate sattva to overcome sleep and sustain disciplined awareness.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa speaks as an authoritative teacher, giving practical instructions on mental discipline and the removal of obstacles to yoga, emphasizing sattva as the basis for steadiness and wakeful clarity.