Shloka 9
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
शुक्लवासाश्न दुर्वासा: शायी नित्यमधस्तथा । मण्डूकशायी च तथा वीरासनगतस्तथा
śuklavāsāśn durvāsāḥ śayī nityam adhastathā | maṇḍūkaśāyī ca tathā vīrāsanagatas tathā ||
Vasiṣṭha dit : «Tantôt il porte des vêtements blancs fraîchement lavés, tantôt des hardes souillées, déchirées et usées. Tantôt il s’étend sur la terre nue ; tantôt il dort recroquevillé comme une grenouille, les membres ramenés contre lui. Parfois il s’assied dans la posture héroïque (vīrāsana), et parfois il demeure sous le ciel ouvert.»
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes non-attachment and inner steadiness: the disciplined person remains free from dependence on comfort, status, or outward appearance, accepting alternations of ease and hardship as part of self-mastery.
Vasiṣṭha is describing the conduct of an austere practitioner, listing contrasting modes of dress and rest—clean vs. dirty clothes, sleeping on the ground vs. curled up, sitting in vīrāsana vs. staying under the open sky—to illustrate a life of deliberate simplicity and restraint.