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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.12
॥
Devanāgarī
एकैकशो निषेव्यन्ते यद्येते चिरमप्यलम् । तन्न सिद्धिं प्रयच्छन्ति मन्त्राः संकीर्तिता इव
Transliteration (IAST)
ekaikaśo niṣevyante yadyete ciramapyalam | tanna siddhiṃ prayacchanti mantrāḥ saṃkīrtitā iva
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एक-एकशः निषेव्यन्तेeka-ekaśaḥ niṣevyanteif singly they are attended to
यदि एते चिरम् अपि अलम्yadi ete ciram api alamthese, even for long
तत् न सिद्धिं प्रयच्छन्तिtat na siddhiṃ prayacchantithen they do not give success
मन्त्राः संकीर्तिताः इवmantrāḥ saṃkīrtitāḥ ivalike mantras merely proclaimed
Translation
«If these are attended to singly, even for long — they do not give success, like mantras merely proclaimed».
Version
688675289e05 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A comparison is given, and it is worth examining, for it is curious and double-edged. It is said: what is done separately is fruitless, mantrāḥ saṃkīrtitā iva, «like mantras merely proclaimed». That is, a comparison is drawn with a mantra pronounced without something: without knowledge, without faith, without a teacher.
Worth noting that this comparison, in the mouth of this book, stands against the book itself. In the first chapter (1.46) it was said directly: reading works jñānato'jñānato vāpi, «whether knowingly or unknowingly»; and this promise we examined as nāmābhāsa, «the shadow of the name». Here the opposite is said: mere proclamation gives nothing.
This contradiction, I think, again points to what was noted when reading the closing prose of the first chapter: the book is a compilation, and its first half holds to the name, its second — to effort. The Vaishnava side holds the first, and its own distinction was cited at Hayagrīva (2.p2): sound by itself gives benefits, and liberation is given by knowledge of whose name it is. That is, it agrees that a mantra «merely proclaimed» does not give the highest; and it does not agree that it gives nothing.
And this distinction, I think, is the whole difference between «little» and «nothing».