Upanishads · Mahā 5.77
॥
Devanāgarī
आशाशरशलाकाढ्या दुर्जया हीन्द्रियारयः प्रक्षीणचित्तदर्पस्य निगृहीतेन्द्रियद्विषः
Transliteration (IAST)
āśāśaraśalākāḍhyā durjayā hīndriyārayaḥ prakṣīṇacittadarpasya nigṛhītendriyadviṣaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आशा-शर-शलाका-आढ्याःāśā-śara-śalākā-āḍhyāḥrich in the arrows and darts of hopes; abounding in the shafts and stings of expectations
दुर्जयाः हि इन्द्रिय-अरयःdurjayāḥ hi indriya-arayaḥhard to conquer indeed are the enemy senses; truly unconquerable are the foes, the senses
प्रक्षीण-चित्त-दर्पस्यprakṣīṇa-citta-darpasyabut for him whose pride of mind is worn away; yet in one whose conceit of consciousness is spent
निगृहीत-इन्द्रिय-द्विषःnigṛhīta-indriya-dviṣaḥand whose enemy senses are subdued; and whose adversary senses are held in check
Translation
“Hard to conquer are the enemy senses, rich in the arrows and stings of hopes; but for him whose pride of mind is worn away and whose enemy senses are subdued…”
Version
0b36402225fd · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The martial image continues: the senses are the enemy host, the hopes their arrows.
Note what exactly the senses are armed with. Not with pleasure, but with āśā — “hope, expectation”.
This is exact. A sense by itself is powerless: the taste passes in a moment. What holds is not it but the promise — “next time it will be better”.
The word śalākā means “a sting, a spoke, a thin rod”: the arrows are small and frequent.
The second half begins a condition to be resolved in the next verse.
And in it is named what departs first: citta-darpa — “the pride of mind”. Not the senses, but the self-conceit.
The order is worth remembering. While the mind is haughty, the senses are invincible; the conceit worn away — and the host scatters.