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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.20
॥
Devanāgarī
पुनरावृत्तिरहितां मुक्तिं प्राप्नोति मानवः । यत्र कुत्रापि वा काश्यां मरणे स महेश्वरः
Transliteration (IAST)
punarāvṛttirahitāṃ muktiṃ prāpnoti mānavaḥ | yatra kutrāpi vā kāśyāṃ maraṇe sa maheśvaraḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पुनर्-आवृत्ति-रहितां मुक्तिंpunar-āvṛtti-rahitāṃ muktiṃliberation devoid of return
प्राप्नोति मानवःprāpnoti mānavaḥa man attains
यत्र कुत्र अपि वा काश्यांyatra kutra api vā kāśyāṃwherever it be, or in Kāśī
मरणे सः महेश्वरःmaraṇe saḥ maheśvaraḥat death, that great lord
Translation
«…a man attains liberation devoid of return. Wherever it be, or in Kāśī, at death — that great lord…»
Version
28ac0d6a6a52 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting the phrase yatra kutrāpi vā kāśyāṃ, «wherever it be, or in Kāśī». That is, the place is declared indifferent: not only in Kāśī, but anywhere. This detail settles everything that came before and is worth stating.
The belief said: the place liberates. This book says: the word liberates; and the place is only where it is spoken, and hence it may be anywhere. That is, the reinterpretation is carried through that was warned of when reading the sixteenth verse: the shrine is not rejected, but its power is transferred from the ground to the name.
Add the phrase punar-āvṛtti-rahita, «devoid of return». This expression was examined at Jābāli (16), and it was noted that it is stated negatively: it says what will not be. Here it stands beside sālokya, that is, beside a place; and hence the negation here is filled: the one who has somewhere to remain does not return.
And this, I think, is the best use of this phrase of all we have met: in Gītā 15.6 it stands with dhāma mama, «my abode», and here the same. Add that sa maheśvaraḥ, «that great lord», is said of Śiva, and the next verse will say what he does.