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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.5
॥
Devanāgarī
प्राक्तनस्तदसौ यत्नाज्जेतव्यो भवता कपे । शुभाशुभाभ्यां मार्गाभ्यां वहन्ती वासनासरित्
Transliteration (IAST)
prāktanastadasau yatnājjetavyo bhavatā kape | śubhāśubhābhyāṃ mārgābhyāṃ vahantī vāsanāsarit
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्राक्तनः तत् असौ यत्नात्prāktanaḥ tat asau yatnātthe former [state], by effort
जेतव्यः भवता कपेjetavyaḥ bhavatā kapemust be conquered by you, monkey
शुभ-अ-शुभाभ्यां मार्गाभ्यांśubha-a-śubhābhyāṃ mārgābhyāṃby the auspicious and inauspicious paths
वहन्ती वासना-सरित्vahantī vāsanā-saritflowing, the river of habit
Translation
«…then it, the former [state], must be conquered by you through effort, monkey. The river of habit, flowing by the auspicious and inauspicious paths…»
Version
3d5423731982 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An image for which this chapter is worth reading is introduced: vāsanā-sarit, «the river of habit». Worth examining it, for it explains all the treatment that follows. Habit is named a river, not a stain and not a burden.
A river does not stand still: it flows always, and cannot be stopped; only its channel can be redirected. That is, a person does not choose whether to flow or not: he flows without ceasing; the whole question is where the channel is cut. This image, I think, is the best of all conceived in these books about habit, and it is an exact picture of what the Vaishnava side holds as its own.
Its position was cited at Varāha (4.16) and Śāṭyāyanī (2): a person's attachment already exists, and firmly; the question is not to destroy it but to see to what it is attached. Add the word prāktana, «former», said of the evil state. That is, the evil is named old: it did not come today but was accumulated earlier; and hence it is conquered not by decision but by a long countercurrent.
And add that it says yatnāt jetavyaḥ, «must be conquered by effort»; that is, the book does not promise that the old will fall away of itself.