Shloka 14
Mind as Charioteer; Kṣetrajña, Tapas, and Dhyāna-Yoga
Adhyātma-Upadeśa
यथा प्रदीपमादाय कश्चित् तमसि गच्छति । तथा सन्त्वप्रदीपेन गच्छन्ति परमैषिण:
yathā pradīpam ādāya kaścit tamasi gacchati | tathā sattva-pradīpena gacchanti paramaiṣiṇaḥ ||
जैसे कोई मनुष्य दीपक लेकर अन्धकार में चलता है, वैसे ही परम तत्त्व के अन्वेषी साधक सत्त्व-रूप दीपक के प्रकाश में साधन-पथ पर अग्रसर होते हैं।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that sattva—mental clarity, purity, and balance—functions like a lamp for spiritual aspirants. Just as a lamp enables safe movement in darkness, sattva enables discernment and steady progress toward the supreme truth.
Vāyudeva speaks in the Ashvamedhika Parva, offering an instructive metaphor: seekers of the highest goal advance on the path of practice by relying on the illuminating power of sattva, contrasted with the obscuring nature of tamas (darkness).