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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.3
॥
Devanāgarī
द्विविधा वासनाव्यूहः शुभश्चैवाशुभश्च तौ । वासनौघेन शुद्धेन तत्र चेदनुनीयसे
Transliteration (IAST)
dvividhā vāsanāvyūhaḥ śubhaścaivāśubhaśca tau | vāsanaughena śuddhena tatra cedanunīyase
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
द्वि-विधा वासना-व्यूहःdvi-vidhā vāsanā-vyūhaḥtwofold is the array of habits
शुभः च एवśubhaḥ ca evaauspicious
अ-शुभः च तौa-śubhaḥ ca tauand inauspicious — both
वासना-ओघेन शुद्धेनvāsanā-oghena śuddhenaby a pure flood of habit
तत्र चेत् अनुनीयसेtatra cet anunīyaseif you are drawn there
Translation
«The array of habits is twofold: auspicious and inauspicious. And if you are drawn there by a pure flood of habit…»
Version
73c4fa28e309 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A distinction is introduced on which this whole chapter rests: habits are śubha, «auspicious», and aśubha, inauspicious. That is, habit by itself is not an evil; it is evil by direction. This position, I think, is the most essential in the whole second chapter, and here is why.
Other books read required vāsanā-kṣaya, «the exhaustion of habits» in general: erase the rut, wipe out the trace. Here it is said that the rut can also be good; and the remedy offered is not erasure but redirection into another channel, of which the next three verses will speak. The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and its rule was cited at Varāha (4.16): the old rut is not erased but overgrown by being driven over anew.
Its ground is the same as here: the rut is a trace of repetition, and it can be removed only by new repetition; mere restraint leaves it untouched and merely waiting its chance. Add the word vyūha, «array, battle formation». The word is military and denotes a troop's order; and habits are named a formation, that is, something standing not singly but in order.
The image, I think, is exact: habits indeed hold not apart but in a chain, and hence are displaced also by a chain.