Shloka 50

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 | teṣu krodhaṃ śamena (manonigrahena) jayet, kāmaṃ saṅkalpatyāgena parājayet; tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇasaṃsevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṃ kartum śaknoti ||

Translation

व्यास उवाच—सत्त्वसंसेवनाद् धीरः निद्राम् उच्छेत्तुम् अर्हति। योगशास्त्रे पञ्च दोषा निगदिताः—कामः क्रोधो लोभो भयं च पञ्चमः स्वप्नः; एतान् समूलान् उच्छिन्यात्। क्रोधः शमेन जय्यः, कामः संकल्पत्यागेन; सत्त्वगुणनिष्ठया च धीरः स्वयमेव निद्राम् अतिक्रामति।

Word by Word

• {'sattva': 'purity, clarity, luminous balance (one of the guṇas)', 'sattva-saṃsevana': 'cultivation/constant resort to sattva', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed, resolute person', 'nidrā': 'sleep, torpor', 'ucchettum / uccheda': 'to cut off

• eradication, uprooting', 'vidvān': 'the wise, learned person', 'yoga': 'discipline of inner integration

• meditative practice', 'kāma': 'desire, craving', 'krodha': 'anger', 'lobha': 'greed, grasping', 'bhaya': 'fear', 'svapna': 'dreaming

• dream-state distraction', 'doṣa': 'fault, defect, obstacle', 'śama': 'calmness

• mental restraint', 'manonigraha': 'control of the mind', 'saṅkalpa': 'volitional resolve, intention (often desire-driven)', 'saṅkalpa-tyāga': 'abandonment of (desire-laden) resolve'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Yoga requires uprooting five inner obstacles—desire, anger, greed, fear, and dreaming. Anger is mastered through śama (calm self-restraint), desire through giving up saṅkalpa (compulsive intention), and sleep/torpor through sustained cultivation of sattva.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the instruction-heavy Shānti Parva, Vyāsa speaks as a teacher, listing psychological impediments to yogic steadiness and prescribing specific counter-practices to overcome them.