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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.7
॥
Devanāgarī
अशुभाच्चालितं याति शुभं तस्मादपीतरत् । पौरुषेण प्रयत्नेन लालयेच्चित्तबालकम्
Transliteration (IAST)
aśubhāccālitaṃ yāti śubhaṃ tasmādapītarat | pauruṣeṇa prayatnena lālayeccittabālakam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अ-शुभात् चालितं याति शुभंa-śubhāt cālitaṃ yāti śubhaṃshifted from the inauspicious, it goes to the auspicious
तस्मात् अपि इतरत्tasmāt api itaratand from that too — to another
पौरुषेण प्रयत्नेनpauruṣeṇa prayatnenaby human effort
लालयेत् चित्त-बालकम्lālayet citta-bālakamlet him nurse the child-mind
Translation
«Shifted from the inauspicious, it goes to the auspicious, and from that too — to another; by human effort let him nurse the child-mind».
Version
740d7adf21a9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is a verse for the sake of which, I think, this whole chapter is worth reading: lālayec citta-bālakam, «let him nurse the child-mind». Worth examining both words. Bālaka means «child, little one»; and the mind is called a child.
Lālayet means «to nurse, to indulge, to fondle», from lal; and this is the word used of a child in one's arms. That is, one is told not to beat the mind, not to curb and lock it up, but to nurse it. Worth appreciating how different this is from all we have read.
Other books said: the mind is an enemy, it must be conquered; the mind is mercury, it must be bound; the mind is an elephant, it must be driven with a goad. Here it is said: it is a child, and must be treated as a child. And one does not war with a child: one distracts him, gives him something else, coaxes him, and takes him in one's arms.
The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and its whole practice is, in essence, an application of this one rule: the mind is not forbidden, but given something better — a name, a story, a song, company. Add the first half-verse, for it holds a stair: shifted from the bad, it goes to the good, and from the good — to another. That is, the good is not the end, but a way-station; and this agrees with what was noted at many books: good binds with a golden chain, but it binds.