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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.26
॥
Devanāgarī
इयं कैवल्यमुक्तिस्तु केनोपायेन सिद्ध्यति । माण्डूक्यमेकमेवालं मुमुक्षूणां विमुक्तये
Transliteration (IAST)
iyaṃ kaivalyamuktistu kenopāyena siddhyati | māṇḍūkyamekamevālaṃ mumukṣūṇāṃ vimuktaye
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
इयं कैवल्य-मुक्तिः तुiyaṃ kaivalya-muktiḥ tu"but this liberation-aloneness
केन उपायेन सिद्ध्यतिkena upāyena siddhyatiby what means is it accomplished?"
माण्डूक्यम् एकम् एव अलंmāṇḍūkyam ekam eva alaṃ"the Māṇḍūkya alone is enough
मुमुक्षूणां विमुक्तयेmumukṣūṇāṃ vimuktayefor seekers of freedom, for liberation"
Translation
«“But by what means is this liberation-aloneness accomplished?” — “The Māṇḍūkya alone is enough for seekers of freedom, for liberation…»
Version
01ef958cca8a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is a famous and often-cited place: māṇḍūkyam ekam evālam, «the Māṇḍūkya alone is enough». Worth examining what is said here, for from this begins the four-runged ladder of reading, and it is, I think, the best place in the whole book. The ladder is this.
One Māṇḍūkya is enough (1.26). If the knowledge has not come — read ten (1.27). If there is no firmness — study thirty-two (1.28).
If bodiless liberation is wanted — read a hundred and eight (1.29). This construction is worth stating, for it overturns the usual view. Ordinarily one thinks: the more read, the higher.
Here it is the reverse: the less needed, the better; and the hundred and eight are named not as the diligent one's reward but as a remedy for one who has not managed with one. That is, the list for which this book is famous is given last, as the extreme measure. Worth noting too why the Māṇḍūkya is chosen.
It is the shortest of the main upaniṣads — twelve lines — and sets forth four states and four portions of the syllable om; spoken of at Māṇḍūkya and Pañcabrahma (13). The Vaishnava side has its own remark on its sufficiency, cited at Varāha (2.59): the fourth is not enough for it, for it is described by negations and ends with the word śivam, «auspicious» — the one positive word in the enumeration.