Shloka 47

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

sattvasaṃsevanād dhīro nidrām ucchettum arhati | vidvān yoge ye kāma-krodha-lobha-bhayaṃ ca pañcamaṃ svapnam—ime pañca doṣāḥ proktās teṣāṃ pūrṇatayā ucchedaṃ kuryāt | teṣāṃ madhye krodhaṃ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṃ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṃsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṃ kartum arhati ||

Translation

Vyāsa teaches that a steadfast person, by cultivating sattva (clarity and balance), can overcome the pull of sleep and lethargy. The wise, intent on yoga, should uproot the five faults—desire, anger, greed, fear, and (as the fifth) dream-delusion. Among these, anger is to be conquered through śama, the inward restraint of the mind; desire is to be defeated by abandoning compulsive resolve and craving-intentions. Thus, through the steady practice of sattva, one becomes fit for wakeful discipline and the ethical purification required for yoga.

Word by Word

• {'sattva-saṃsevana': 'cultivation/association with sattva

• practice of clarity, purity, balance', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed person', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• also lethargy/torpor in a yogic-ethical sense', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off, uproot, eradicate', 'vidvān': 'the wise, learned person', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

• spiritual practice', 'kāma': 'desire, craving', 'krodha': 'anger', 'lobha': 'greed', 'bhaya': 'fear', 'svapna': 'dream

• here suggesting dream-delusion/mental projection as a fault', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, moral-psychological blemish', 'śama': 'calmness

• mental restraint, pacification of the mind', 'manonigraha': 'control/restraint of the mind', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandoning (compulsive) intention/resolve

• renunciation of craving-driven volitions', 'parājayet / jayet': 'should defeat / should conquer', 'guṇa': 'quality (sattva, rajas, tamas)

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

For progress in yoga and ethical life, one should uproot key inner faults—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dream-delusion—by specific disciplines: anger through śama (mental restraint), desire through saṅkalpa-tyāga (dropping craving-driven intentions), and lethargy/sleep through cultivating sattva (clarity and balance).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic flow of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa speaks as a teacher, giving practical inner methods for self-mastery. The focus is not external action but the purification of the mind and character required for yogic steadiness.