Shloka 17
Adhyāya 240: Indriya–Manas–Buddhi–Ātman — The Inner Hierarchy and Restraint (इन्द्रिय-मनस्-बुद्धि-आत्म-क्रमः)
जैसे मछलीमार जाल काटनेवाली दुष्ट मछलीको पहले पकड़ता है, उसी तरह योगवेत्ता साधक पहले अपने मनको वशगमें करे। उसके बाद कानका, फिर नेत्रका, तदनन्तर जिह्ठा और प्राण आदिका निग्रह करे ।।
tata etāni saṁyamya manasi sthāpayet yatī | tathaivāpohya saṅkalpān mano hātmany dhārayet | sattvasaṁsevanād dhīro nidrām ucchettum arhati ||
व्यास उवाच—तत एतानि संयम्य मनसि स्थापयेद् यतिः। तथैवापोह्य संकल्पान् मन आत्मनि धारयेत्॥ सत्त्वसंसेवनाद् धीरो निद्रामुच्छेत्तुमर्हति; अन्तःशासनमेवात्र योगमार्गस्य निश्चयः॥
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Begin yoga by restraining the faculties and placing them under the governance of the mind; then remove saṅkalpas (impulsive intentions and mental fabrications) and steady the mind in the ātman. Cultivating sattva supports alertness and helps uproot nidrā understood as torpor and dullness that obstruct practice.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional discourse, Vyāsa gives practical guidance for an ascetic’s inner discipline: sensory restraint, withdrawal from proliferating intentions, and stabilization of awareness in the Self, emphasizing sattva as the condition for sustained wakeful practice.