Shloka 9836

Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

विकारि तेषां राजेन्द्र सुदुष्करकरं मन: । राजेन्द्र! चक्षु आदि इन्द्रियोंके आहारको छोड़ देना कठिन नहीं है; क्योंकि इन्द्रियोंके छहों विषयोंका उपभोग न करनेसे वह अपने-आप सुगमतासे हो जाता है, परंतु उनमेंसे मन बड़ा विकारी है, इस कारण भावकी शुद्धिके बिना उसको वशमें करना अत्यन्त दुष्कर है

Transliteration

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | vikāri teṣāṃ rājendra suduṣkarakaraṃ manaḥ |

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira nói: “Tâu bệ hạ, trong số đó, tâm là thứ hay biến động và xao nhiễu, nên khiến việc tự chế ngự trở nên vô cùng khó. Từ bỏ ‘thức ăn’ của các giác quan—không chạy theo các đối tượng của sáu căn—thì không khó đến thế; bởi khi không hưởng thụ sáu trần, sự rút lui có thể đến một cách tự nhiên. Nhưng tâm lại quá đổi đổi thay, vì vậy nếu không thanh lọc nội tâm, thì việc chế phục nó thật là cực kỳ gian nan.”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'yudhiṣṭhira uvāca', 'definition': 'Yudhiṣṭhira said'}, {'term': 'vikāri', 'definition': 'changeful, prone to modification

• unstable'}, {'term': 'teṣām', 'definition': 'of those (i.e., among those faculties/indriyas)'}, {'term': 'rājendra', 'definition': 'O best of kings

• king of kings (vocative address)'}, {'term': 'suduṣkara-karaṃ', 'definition': 'making (it) extremely difficult

• causing great difficulty'}, {'term': 'manaḥ', 'definition': 'mind

• inner organ of thought, intention, and emotion'}, {'term': 'indriya', 'definition': 'sense faculty'}, {'term': 'āhāra', 'definition': 'food

• that which is taken in—here, sensory input/objects'}, {'term': 'viṣaya', 'definition': 'object of sense

• field of enjoyment'}, {'term': 'bhāva-śuddhi', 'definition': 'purification of inner disposition/attitude

• cleansing of mental-emotional tendencies'}, {'term': 'vaśaṃ kartum', 'definition': 'to bring under control

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• rājendra (addressed king)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

External restraint—avoiding sense-objects—can be comparatively manageable, but true mastery requires inner purification, because the mind is inherently fickle and can generate craving and agitation even without external stimuli.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a dharma-oriented discussion during the Vana Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king and reflects on the difficulty of self-restraint, emphasizing that the mind is the hardest faculty to subdue and needs purification of one’s inner disposition.