Shloka 14
अव्यक्त–पुरुष–विवेकः (Discrimination of Avyakta/Prakṛti and Puruṣa) — Yājñavalkya’s Anvīkṣikī to Viśvāvasu
स्थिरीकृत्येन्द्रियग्रामं मनसा मिथिलेश्वर । मनो बुद्धया स्थिरं कृत्वा पाषाण इव निश्चल:
sthirīkṛtyendriyagrāmaṁ manasā mithileśvara | mano buddhyā sthiraṁ kṛtvā pāṣāṇa iva niścalḥ ||
Sinabi ni Vasiṣṭha: “O panginoon ng Mithilā, kapag ang isang yogin, sa pamamagitan ng isip, ay pinatitibay ang buong ‘kalipunan’ ng mga pandama, at pagkatapos—sa pamamagitan ng talino (buddhi)—ay pinatatatag ang mismong isip, na nagiging di-makilos na gaya ng bato, kung gayon ang mga pantas na nakaaalam sa tuntunin ng mga śāstra ay kumikilala, mula sa tuwirang karanasan, na siya’y tunay na nakatatag sa yoga.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yoga is defined here as inner steadiness: first restraining the senses through the mind, then stabilizing the mind through discriminative intellect (buddhi), until one becomes unwavering and motionless in concentration; such stability is what the śāstra-knowing wise recognize as genuine yogic attainment.
In Śānti Parva, Vasiṣṭha instructs the king of Mithilā (Janaka) on yogic discipline, describing the practical criterion by which a practitioner is deemed ‘yoga-yukta’: mastery over senses and mind culminating in unshakable stillness.