धृत्या यया धारयते मनःप्राणेन्द्रियक्रियाः । योगेनाव्यभिचारिण्या धृतिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥
dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate manaḥ-prāṇendriya-kriyāḥ | yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī ||
Sāttvic dhṛti: unswerving through yoga, holds fast the activities of mind, prāṇa, and senses.
Word by word (3)
- dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate manaḥ-prāṇendriya-kriyāḥ
- — by that dhṛti (firmness/constancy; yayā = by which) that holds fast/sustains (dhārayate = from dhṛ = to hold, to sustain) the activities/functions (kriyāḥ = actions/functions) of mind (manas), life-breaths/prāṇa (prāṇa), and sense-organs (indriya) — sāttvic dhṛti holds the inner triad of manas+prāṇa+indriya in check
- yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī
- — by yoga (yogena = through yoga/spiritual practice) unswerving/unwavering (avyabhicāriṇyā = a + vyabhicāra = without deviation; feminine of avyabhicārin), that (sā) dhṛti (firmness), O Pārtha, is sāttvic (sāttvikī) — the defining quality: avyabhicāriṇī = never-deviating; yoga as the sustaining method
- avyabhicāriṇī
- — never-deviating/unswerving (a + vi + abhi + car = without-deviating); the sāttvic dhṛti does not occasionally waver and then return — it is constitutionally unwavering; this is not rigid stubbornness (like tāmasic stabdha) but the natural steadiness of a mind grounded in yoga/Self; it does not deviate because there is nothing pulling it away
That unswerving firmness which, through yoga, holds fast the activities of mind, life-breaths, and sense-organs — that firmness, O Pārtha, is sāttvic.
A modern analogy
Sāttvic dhṛti is like a deep river current — steady, powerful, unwavering. Not the flashy turbulence of rājasic willpower that surges and then fails, nor the tāmasic refusal to move at all. The sāttvic person's firmness is grounded in something deeper than determination: yoga (union with the Self), so it does not waver because it is not fighting resistance — it is simply flowing in the direction of truth.
V33 opens the three-fold dhṛti analysis (V33-35). Dhṛti is the sustaining-will faculty — the inner constancy that holds the triad of manaḥ-prāṇa-indriya in their proper functioning. Sāttvic dhṛti is avyabhicāriṇī (never-deviating) because it operates through yoga (union with the higher Self). The triad manaḥ-prāṇa-indriya appears here in the same order as in Ch.6 (dhyāna-yoga): the meditator holds mind, prāṇa, and senses steady. Sāttvic dhṛti IS the quality of the successful meditator/yogi.
The phrase dhārayate (holds-fast) in V33 mirrors dhṛti's root dh (to hold/carry). Sāttvic dhṛti is literally dhṛti doing what dhṛti means: holding the inner instrument steady. Yogena (through yoga) as the METHOD of this holding is crucial — it distinguishes sāttvic dhṛti from mere willpower. The person who holds their senses in check through brute willpower is using rājasic dhṛti; the person in whom inner holding happens naturally through yogic absorption is demonstrating sāttvic dhṛti.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
The firmness which is ever accompanied by Yoga, and by which the activities of thought, of life-breaths and sense-organs, O Partha, are held fast, such a firmness is Sattvic. [1]
The fortitude by which the functions of the mind, the Prana, and the senses, O Partha, are regulated, that fortitude, unswerving through Yoga, is Sattvika. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
That unswerving constancy by which one controls the functions of the mind, the life-breaths, and the senses, through devotion, that constancy is of the quality of goodness. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Your own mind is your best friend when mastered; your worst enemy when not.
Satisfied by knowledge and realisation, senses mastered, gold and mud equally seen — this is the true steadfast yogi.
When the completely controlled mind rests serenely in the Self alone, free from all desire-pull — that is called yoga.
As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker — so is the mind of the yogi who practises the yoga of the Self.
Where the mind ceases, stilled by yoga — where the Self sees itself and rests content in itself: this is samādhi.
Yoga is the disconnection from suffering — practise it with firm resolve and a mind that does not despond.