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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.21
॥
Devanāgarī
जन्तोर्दक्षिणकर्णे तु मत्तारं समुपादिशेत् । निर्धूताशेषपापौघो मत्सारूप्यं भजत्ययम्
Transliteration (IAST)
jantordakṣiṇakarṇe tu mattāraṃ samupādiśet | nirdhūtāśeṣapāpaugho matsārūpyaṃ bhajatyayam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जन्तोः दक्षिण-कर्णे तुjantoḥ dakṣiṇa-karṇe tubut into the right ear of the creature
मत्-तारं समुपादिशेत्mat-tāraṃ samupādiśetmay he impart my tāraka
निर्धूत-अशेष-पाप-ओघःnirdhūta-aśeṣa-pāpa-oghaḥwith the whole flood of sin shaken off
मत्-सारूप्यं भजति अयम्mat-sārūpyaṃ bhajati ayamhe attains oneness of form with me
Translation
«…but into the right ear of the creature he imparts my tāraka; and one from whom the whole flood of sin is shaken off without remainder attains oneness of form with me».
Version
1840af87377e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is a detail worth pausing over: Śiva speaks the name into the right ear of the dying. Worth noting that it says jantoḥ, «creature», not «person». Jantu means every living thing: beast and worm alike.
That is, by this belief Śiva speaks the name to every dying creature in Kāśī, without distinguishing kind; and the story is told in India precisely so — there even animals are liberated. This detail, I think, is the best in this passage and is worth stating. If the name works when spoken into the ear of one who can no longer answer, its working depends neither on understanding, nor on merit, nor on kind.
The same was noted at Śāṭyāyani (32), where renunciation pronounced «with the breath in the throat» is declared valid; and there too it was said that not the deed but a change of belonging decides. Add what the Vaishnava side adds here, which makes the promise not unconditional. The story of Ajāmila (Bhāgavatam 6) is the same case: a name spoken without awareness worked.
But the same book (6.2.10) says that for one who calculates in advance there is no purification; that is, the grace is given to the dying, not to one living in reckoning on it. Add the word nirdhūta, «shaken off»: the sins are not washed and not burned, but shaken off, like dust from a garment; and of the same verb vidhunoti in Bhāgavatam 1.2.17 it was spoken at Jābāli (3.2).