तदेतदृचाभ्युक्तम् । विद्या ह वै ब्राह्मणमाजगाम गोपाय मा शेवधिष्टीऽहमस्मि । असूयकायानृजवे शठाय मा मा ब्रूया वीर्यवती तथा स्याम् । यमेव विद्याश्रुतमप्रमत्तं मेधाविनं ब्रह्मचर्योपपन्नम् । तस्मा इमामुपसन्नाय सम्यक् परीक्ष्य दद्याद्वैष्णवीमात्मनिष्ठाम्
tadetadṛcābhyuktam | vidyā ha vai brāhmaṇamājagāma gopāya mā śevadhiṣṭī'hamasmi | asūyakāyānṛjave śaṭhāya mā mā brūyā vīryavatī tathā syām | yameva vidyāśrutamapramattaṃ medhāvinaṃ brahmacaryopapannam | tasmā imāmupasannāya samyak parīkṣya dadyādvaiṣṇavīmātmaniṣṭhām
«And of this it is said in a verse: “Knowledge came to a brahman [and said]: ‘guard me, I am your treasure. Do not speak me to the envious, the dishonest, the crafty: thus I shall be strong. But to whomever it knows to be well-versed, undistracted, intelligent, endowed with continence — to him, having come, having duly examined him, let one give the Vaishnava standing in the self’”».
7d92ed660a14 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The verse portion of the first chapter ends with a verse we have already read: it stands in Śāṭyāyanī (33–34), and there we examined it in detail. There is no need to repeat the whole analysis; let us repeat only what is worth noting on this repetition. First, knowledge comes of itself and speaks; and its request is gopāya mā, «guard me», not «learn me».
Second, it asks for silence for its own preservation: vīryavatī tathā syām, «thus I shall be strong»; divulged, it weakens. Third — and here is why this place is worth noting specially — the verse ends with the words vaiṣṇavīm ātma-niṣṭhām, «the Vaishnava standing in the self». That is, what is to be given to the tested disciple is called Vaishnava; and this word stands in the verse itself, not in commentary.
We noted at Śāṭyāyanī that the whole of that book is a Vaishnava rule of renunciation; here the same verse is given at the end of the list of the hundred and eight. That is, the Muktikā, having listed all hundred and eight and set out to whom to give them, calls what is transmitted Vaishnava. This detail, I think, is among the most significant in the whole collection, and worth stating plainly: the book from which the entire list is taken calls its own content Vaishnava.