Shloka 39

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

sattvasaṁsevanād dhīro nidrām ucchettum arhati | vidvān yogake ye kāma-krodha-lobha-bhayaṁ ca pañcamaṁ svapnam—ime pañca doṣāḥ proktāḥ—tān sarvathā ucchedayet | teṣāṁ madhye krodhaṁ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṁ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṁsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṁ kartum arhati ||

Translation

व्यास ने कहा—सत्त्वगुण का सेवन करने से धीर पुरुष अत्यधिक निद्रा का उच्छेद करने में समर्थ होता है। योग में जिन पाँच दोषों का उपदेश किया गया है—काम, क्रोध, लोभ, भय और पाँचवाँ स्वप्न—उनका ज्ञानी साधक को जड़ से उन्मूलन करना चाहिए। इनमें क्रोध को शम अर्थात् मनोनिग्रह से जीते और काम को संकल्प-आसक्ति के त्याग से पराजित करे। इस प्रकार सत्त्व में स्थिर रहकर धीर पुरुष निद्रा पर विजय पाता है और साधना के योग्य बनता है।

Word by Word

• {'sattva-saṁsevana': 'cultivation/association with sattva (clarity, purity, balance)', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed person', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• here, lethargy/excessive sleep as an obstacle', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off, uproot, eliminate', 'vidvān': 'the wise, learned person', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

• meditative/ethical practice', 'kāma': 'desire, craving', 'krodha': 'anger', 'lobha': 'greed, avarice', 'bhaya': 'fear', 'svapna': 'dreaming

• mental agitation in sleep, distraction', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, obstacle', 'śama': 'calmness

• mental pacification, self-control', 'manonigraha': 'restraint of the mind', 'saṅkalpa': 'resolve, intention

• often obsessive mental construction', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandonment of (binding) resolve/fixation', 'parājayet / jayet': 'should defeat / should conquer', 'sattva-guṇa': 'the sattva quality among the guṇas'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A yogic aspirant should uproot five inner obstacles—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dreaming—using specific remedies: anger through śama (calm self-restraint), desire through saṅkalpa-tyāga (dropping binding mental fixations), and lethargy/sleep through sustained cultivation of sattva.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on conduct and inner discipline, Vyāsa delivers a didactic teaching: he lists key psychological दोषs that hinder yoga and prescribes practical methods to conquer them, emphasizing sattva as the supportive foundation for wakeful, steady practice.