Shloka 9

Śarīrin, Buddhi, and the Limits of Sense-Perception (इन्द्रियबुद्धिशरीरिविचारः)

Devanagari script

विसंचारि निरालम्बं पठ्चद्वारं चलाचलम्‌ । पूर्व ध्यानपथे धीर: समादध्यान्मनो5न्तरा

Transliteration

visaṃcāri nirālambaṃ pañcadvāraṃ calācalam | pūrvaṃ dhyānapathe dhīraḥ samādhadyān mano 'ntarā ||

Translation

मन अनेक विषयांत भटकते; त्याला स्थिर आधार नाही. पाच इंद्रिये ही त्याच्या बाहेर जाण्याची दारे आहेत आणि तो अत्यंत चंचल आहे. म्हणून धीर योगी प्रथम हे मन अंतरी—हृदयातील ध्यानमार्गावर—स्थिर करून एकाग्र करील.

Word by Word

• {'visaṃcāri': 'wandering about, roaming (especially among objects)', 'nirālambam': 'without support

• lacking a stable resting-place', 'pañcadvāram': 'having five gates (the five senses as outlets)', 'calācalam': 'very unsteady, wavering, fickle', 'pūrvam': 'first, at the outset', 'dhyānapatha': 'the path/track of meditation

• inner contemplative course', 'dhīraḥ': 'steadfast, self-possessed, wise person', 'samādhadyāt': 'should fix/compose/collect (the mind)

• should concentrate', 'manaḥ': 'mind', 'antarā': 'within, inwardly (in the interior)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• mind (manas)
• five senses (pañcadvāra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The mind is naturally unstable and escapes outward through the five senses; therefore the yogin must deliberately gather it inward and fix it on the inner path of meditation, establishing one-pointed concentration.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs on spiritual discipline and inner governance after the war; here he describes the mind’s restless nature and prescribes the first practical step of yoga—turning the mind inward and concentrating it in meditation.