Śivasaṃhitā 5.3

This verse unfolds an exhaustive catalogue of worldly pleasures constituting bhoga, the first great obstacle of yoga. The list is deliberately wide-ranging: from the most obvious — material wealth, sensory luxury — to the apparently elevated, such as study of the Vedas and Śāstras. This inclusion is philosophically bold: even scriptural knowledge becomes an obstacle when it breeds pride or distraction rather than genuine liberation.

The key term here is viḍambana — deception, mockery, false imitation. The text does not simply declare these things evil; it calls them viḍambana, illusions that mimic real satisfaction without delivering it. The word evokes the idea of saṃsāra as a theatrical performance that misleads its audience. It is also worth noting that nārī (woman) heads the list — a reflection of the androcentric ascetic perspective of the text, which must be read in its historical context rather than universalized.

The structure of this catalogue recalls the renunciation lists found in the Manusmṛti and in Jain and Buddhist ascetic literature. Yet the Śivasaṃhitā does not prescribe violent rejection of the world but rather viveka — discriminative wisdom — that allows the practitioner to see these things for what they are: viḍambana, passing seductions. For the advanced yogin, this enumeration functions as an examination of conscience: to which of these attachments do I remain bound?