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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.16
॥
Devanāgarī
केचित्त्वन्नामभजनात्काश्यां तारोपदेशतः । अन्येतु साङ्ख्ययोगेन भक्तियोगेन चापरे
Transliteration (IAST)
kecittvannāmabhajanātkāśyāṃ tāropadeśataḥ | anyetu sāṅkhyayogena bhaktiyogena cāpare
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
केचित् त्वत्-नाम-भजनात्kecit tvat-nāma-bhajanātsome — from worship of your name
काश्यां तार-उपदेशतःkāśyāṃ tāra-upadeśataḥin Kāśī — from the instruction in the tāraka
अन्ये तु साङ्ख्य-योगेनanye tu sāṅkhya-yogenaothers by sāṅkhya and yoga
भक्ति-योगेन च अपरेbhakti-yogena ca apareand others by the yoga of devotion
Translation
«…some — from worship of your name, others in Kāśī — from the instruction in the tāraka, others by sāṅkhya and yoga, and others by the yoga of devotion…»
Version
04f845cea463 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The means by which, in various views, liberation is attained are listed; and the list is worth examining, for it is a short inventory of everything India has proposed. Tvan-nāma-bhajana — «worship of your name». Tāraka in Kāśī — the instruction which, by tradition, Śiva gives the dying in Vārāṇasī into the ear; the twenty-first verse will speak of it.
Sāṅkhya-yoga — the discernment of principles and work with the mind. Bhakti-yoga — devotion. Worth noting that the name stands first, and bhakti — last; that is, the list runs not by merit but as it happens.
Add what is worth saying of this list as a whole. It is honest: it names rival views, and the book does not pretend that all agree. It has been noted at many books that a book usually sets forth its own as if there were no other; here it is said outright that kecit, «some», say this, and anye, «others», say otherwise.
This detail, I think, does the book credit and explains why it is precisely this one that became the inventory: an inventory is compiled by one who has seen much. Add too that Kāśī is mentioned here and below twice. The belief that one who dies in Vārāṇasī is liberated is among the strongest in India; and the book accepts it, but, as we shall see, reinterprets it: it will say that this is given not by the place but by a name spoken into the ear.