Shloka 53

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

sattvasaṁsevanād dhīro nidrām ucchettum arhati | vidvān yoge ye kāma-krodha-lobha-bhayaṁ ca pañcamaṁ svapnam—ime pañca doṣā uktās teṣāṁ pūrṇatayā ucchedaṁ kuryāt | teṣu krodhaṁ śamena jayet, kāmaṁ saṅkalpa-tyāgena parājayet, tathā dhīraḥ sattvaguṇa-sevanena nidrāyā ucchedaṁ kartum śaknoti ||

Translation

毗耶娑说道：恒常培育萨埵，坚毅之人便堪能断除睡眠。智者宣说五种过失障碍瑜伽——欲、嗔、贪、惧，以及第五的梦——当尽皆连根拔除。其中，嗔以安静的自制而胜；欲以舍弃强迫性的意向与决意而破；而志决之士，凭依萨埵之质，亦能胜过睡眠本身。

Word by Word

• {'sattva-saṁsevana': 'cultivation/constant resort to sattva (clarity, purity, balance)', 'dhīra': 'steadfast, self-possessed person', 'nidrā': 'sleep

• lethargy that dulls awareness', '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, pacification of the mind', 'saṅkalpa': 'intention, resolve, mental construction/volition', 'tyāga': 'renunciation, letting-go', 'parājayet / jayet': 'should defeat / should conquer', 'sattva-guṇa': 'the sattva quality among the guṇas (clarity, luminosity)'}

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 subdued through śama (mental restraint), desire through abandoning saṅkalpa (compulsive intention), and sleep is overcome by cultivating sattva (clarity and purity).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the instruction-heavy Shānti Parva, Vyāsa delivers a didactic teaching on inner discipline, listing psychological impediments to yogic practice and prescribing specific methods of conquest grounded in self-restraint and the cultivation of sattva.