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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.48
॥
Devanāgarī
मद्भक्तिविमुखायापि शास्त्रगर्तेषु मुह्यते । गुरुभक्तिविहीनाय दातव्यं न कदाचन
Transliteration (IAST)
madbhaktivimukhāyāpi śāstragarteṣu muhyate | gurubhaktivihīnāya dātavyaṃ na kadācana
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मत्-भक्ति-विमुखाय अपिmat-bhakti-vimukhāya apiand to one averse to devotion to me
शास्त्र-गर्तेषु मुह्यतेśāstra-garteṣu muhyatelost wandering in the pits of scripture
गुरु-भक्ति-विहीनायguru-bhakti-vihīnāyato one devoid of devotion to a teacher
दातव्यं न कदाचनdātavyaṃ na kadācanait must never be given
Translation
«…nor to one averse to devotion to me, lost wandering in the pits of scripture, nor to one devoid of devotion to a teacher — it must never be given».
Version
ac15fe2552ab · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is an expression worth pausing over: śāstra-garteṣu muhyate, «lost wandering in the pits of scripture». Garta means «pit, hollow, ravine»; and it is said of a person that he wanders lost in the pits of books. This image, I think, is superb and worth examining.
It means one who reads much and does not come out: every book is for him a pit into which he descends and in which he stays; and the more books, the more pits. That is, in the list of the unworthy, beside the unbeliever and the ingrate, stands the well-read man. This detail, I think, is the best place in this whole rule, and worth stating.
It means that learning is not by itself fitness, and that the very knowledgeable may be less fit than the ignorant; and it was said at the fortieth verse that among the three habits is named śāstra-vāsanā, «bookish habit». The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and its rule was cited at Bahvṛcā (9): yas taṃ na veda kim ṛcā kariṣyati, «what will one who does not know that do with a verse?» Add the last in the list: guru-bhakti-vihīna, «devoid of devotion to a teacher». That is, refused also is one who reveres the book but not the person; and it was said at Śāṭyāyani (35) that what is heard is absorbed by one who has given something for it.