Shloka 14
कामद्रुम-रूपकः तथा शरीर-पुर-रूपकः
The Desire-Tree and the Body-as-City Metaphors
धमखियानेषु सर्वेषु सत्याख्याने च यद् वसु । दशेदमृक्सहस्राणि निर्मथ्यामृतमुद्भुतम्
vyāsa uvāca | dharmākhyāneṣu sarveṣu satyākhyāne ca yad vasu | daśedam ṛk-sahasrāṇi nirmathyāmṛtam adbhutam | yathā kūrma ihāṅgāni prasārya viniyacchati | evam evendriya-grāmaṃ buddhiḥ sṛṣṭvā niyacchati |
Vyāsa dit : Parmi tous les récits qui enseignent le Dharma, et parmi toutes les histoires qui soutiennent la Vérité, ceci est le trésor essentiel. C’est un nectar merveilleux, distillé en barattant dix mille versets du Ṛgveda. De même que la tortue déploie ses membres puis les retire, ainsi l’intellect (buddhi) projette au-dehors toute la communauté des sens vers leurs objets, puis les maîtrise et les ramène—montrant que la maîtrise de soi est le cœur du dharma et de la vérité.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the essence of dharma and truth is inner mastery: the intellect should be able to deploy the senses when needed and withdraw them from sense-objects, like a tortoise drawing in its limbs.
Vyāsa presents a distilled ‘nectar’ of teaching—claimed as an essence extracted from vast Vedic material—and illustrates it with a vivid simile: the tortoise’s withdrawal becomes a model for disciplined control of the senses by buddhi.