Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 7.1
॥
Devanāgarī
अथातः सम्प्रवक्ष्यामि प्रत्याहारं महामुने । इन्द्रियाणां विचरतां विषयेषु स्वभावतः
Transliteration (IAST)
athātaḥ sampravakṣyāmi pratyāhāraṃ mahāmune | indriyāṇāṃ vicaratāṃ viṣayeṣu svabhāvataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ अतः सम्प्रवक्ष्यामिatha ataḥ sampravakṣyāminow I shall tell henceforth
प्रत्याहारं महा-मुनेpratyāhāraṃ mahā-munethe withdrawal of the senses, O great sage
इन्द्रियाणां विचरतांindriyāṇāṃ vicaratāṃof the senses, roaming
विषयेषु स्व-भावतःviṣayeṣu sva-bhāvataḥamong objects by their own nature
Translation
"Now I shall tell, henceforth, the withdrawal of the senses, O great sage: of the senses, roaming among objects by their own nature…"
Version
d5f34b96a439 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The seventh khanda begins — on pratyahara, the fifth rung. Worth noting are two words: vicharatam, "roaming," and svabhavatah, "by their own nature." That is, the roaming of the senses is named not a vice and not a consequence of poor upbringing, but their natural property. The eye looks, the ear hears; that is what they are made for.
This acknowledgment matters and deserves stating, for it determines what one has to deal with. If roaming is natural, then to fight it is to go against the design; and one who goes against a design wins only briefly. The Gita speaks of the same, and with sympathy for the difficulty: "the senses, O Arjuna, even for the discerning person, striving, forcibly carry away the mind" (2.60).
Worth noting are the words "even for the discerning": it is not said this is the trouble of the unlearned. Knowledge does not help here, as discussed when reading the end of the sixth khanda (6.50). The way out the Gita offers stands in the very next verse and does not consist in struggle: "having subdued them all, let him sit joined, turned toward Me; for whoever's senses are under control, his understanding is established" (2.61).
The word mat-parah, "turned toward Me," settles it here. Control is named, but a condition is set beside it, without which it does not hold; and the same is said by the famous verse that follows, on the taste that retreats from one who has seen the Highest (2.59).