Shloka 9

Mokṣa-dharma Yoga-Upadeśa: Equanimity, Sense-Restraint, and Vision of the Ātman (आत्मदर्शन-योगोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

वैराग्यबुद्धि: सततमात्मदोषव्यपेक्षक: । आत्मबन्धविनिर्मोक्षं स करोत्यचिरादिव,जो किसी भी कर्मका कर्ता नहीं बनता, जिसके मनमें कोई कामना नहीं है, जो इस जगत्‌को अभश्वत्थके समान अनित्य--कलतक न टिक सकनेवाला समझता है तथा जो सदा इसे जन्म, मृत्यु और जरासे युक्त जानता है, जिसकी बुद्धि वैराग्यमें लगी रहती है और जो निरन्तर अपने दोषोंपर दृष्टि रखता है, वह शीघ्र ही अपने बन्धनका नाश कर देता है

Transliteration

vairāgyabuddhiḥ satatam ātmadoṣavyapekṣakaḥ | ātmabandhavinirmokṣaṃ sa karoty acirād iva ||

Translation

ವೈರಾಗ್ಯಬುದ್ಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸದಾ ಸ್ಥಿರನಾಗಿ, ತನ್ನ ದೋಷಗಳನ್ನು ನಿರಂತರವಾಗಿ ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸುವವನು—ಅವನು ಅಲ್ಪಕಾಲದಲ್ಲೇ ಆತ್ಮಬಂಧನಗಳಿಂದ ವಿಮೋಚನವನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ.

Word by Word

वैराग्यबुद्धिःone whose intellect is (fixed) in dispassion

सततम्always, constantly

आत्मदोषव्यपेक्षकःone who keeps watch on his own faults

आत्मबन्धविनिर्मोक्षम्release from one’s own bondage

सःhe

करोतिdoes, accomplishes

अचिरात्soon, in a short time

इवas if, like

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

ब

ब्राह्मण (Brahmin speaker)

आ

आत्मा (self)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Steady dispassion (vairāgya) combined with vigilant self-scrutiny (seeing one’s own doṣas) leads swiftly to freedom from inner bondage; craving and the sense of doership sustain bondage, while clear recognition of the world’s impermanence weakens it.

What is happening in the narrative?

A Brahmin speaker delivers an instruction on liberation: he describes the inner qualities—detachment, absence of desire, awareness of impermanence, and continual self-examination—that enable a person to break the bonds of the self.