Shloka 7
Mind as Charioteer; Kṣetrajña, Tapas, and Dhyāna-Yoga
Adhyātma-Upadeśa
अतः: पर प्रवक्ष्यामि सच्त्वक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्यथा । संयोगो विप्रयोगश्न तन्निबोधत सत्तमा:,श्रेष्ठ महर्षियो! अब मैं यह बता रहा हूँ कि सत्त्व और क्षेत्रज्षका परस्पर संयोग और वियोग कैसे होता है? इस विषयको ध्यान देकर सुनो
ataḥ paraṁ pravakṣyāmi sattva-kṣetrajñayor yathā | saṁyogo viprayogaś ca tan nibodhata sattamāḥ śreṣṭha-maharṣayaḥ ||
Therefore, I shall now explain, in due order, how the vital principle (sattva) and the knower of the field (kṣetrajña) come into union and how they separate. Attend carefully to this teaching, O best among the virtuous, O foremost great seers—for it concerns the understanding that guides right conduct and inner freedom.
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vāyudeva introduces an explanation of how the conscious knower (kṣetrajña) becomes associated with the principle of embodied experience (sattva) and how that association ceases—an inquiry meant to support discernment, ethical steadiness, and release from confusion about self and experience.
Vāyudeva addresses an audience of eminent seers, signaling a formal instruction: he is about to expound a doctrinal account of union and separation between sattva and kṣetrajña, asking them to listen with focused attention.