Shloka 10

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

Devanagari script

इन्द्रियाणि मनश्वैव यदा पिण्डीकरोत्ययम्‌ । एष ध्यानपथ: पूर्वो मया समनुवर्णित:

Transliteration

indriyāṇi manaś caiva yadā piṇḍīkaroty ayam | eṣa dhyānapathaḥ pūrvo mayā samanuvarṇitaḥ ||

Translation

Бхишма сказал: Когда подвижник собирает чувства вместе с умом в единый, слитный фокус, тогда поистине начинается первый путь созерцания. О Юдхиштхира, такова начальная дисциплина медитации, которую я тебе изложил.

Word by Word

• {'indriyāṇi': 'the sense-faculties

• organs of perception and action', 'manaḥ (manas)': 'the mind

• the inner organ that coordinates sense-data and intention', 'ca eva': 'and indeed

• emphatic conjunction', 'yadā': 'when', 'piṇḍīkaroti': 'collects, consolidates, brings into one mass

• unifies', 'ayam': 'this (person)

• here, the yogin/practitioner', 'eṣaḥ': 'this', 'dhyāna-pathaḥ': 'path/discipline of meditation

• contemplative method', 'pūrvaḥ': 'first, preliminary, initial', 'mayā': 'by me', 'samanuvarṇitaḥ': 'fully described, explained in sequence'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• Yudhishthira
• indriyas (sense faculties)
• manas (mind)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Meditation begins with integration: the yogin must gather the scattered senses and the mind into a single-pointed focus. This inner consolidation is presented as the preliminary step of the dhyāna-patha (meditative discipline).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma continues his systematic teaching on spiritual practice, identifying the first stage of meditation as the unification and restraint of the senses together with the mind.