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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.14
॥
Devanāgarī
जन्मान्तशताभ्यस्ता मिथ्या संसारवासना । सा चिराभ्यासयोगेन विना न क्षीयते क्वचित्
Transliteration (IAST)
janmāntaśatābhyastā mithyā saṃsāravāsanā | sā cirābhyāsayogena vinā na kṣīyate kvacit
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जन्म-अन्त-शत-अभ्यस्ताjanma-anta-śata-abhyastāpracticed for hundreds of births
मिथ्या संसार-वासनाmithyā saṃsāra-vāsanāthe false habit of the round of existence
सा चिर-अभ्यास-योगेन विनाsā cira-abhyāsa-yogena vināit, without a union of long practice
न क्षीयते क्वचित्na kṣīyate kvacitis never exhausted
Translation
«The false habit of the round of existence, practiced for hundreds of births — without long practice joined to it, it is never exhausted».
Version
6c927cf1f082 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting how the verse is built, for it rests on a contrast of two practicings. The habit of the round of existence is called janma-anta-śata-abhyastā, «practiced for hundreds of births»; that is, it too is the fruit of practice, only a long and evil one. And it is exhausted cirābhyāsa-yogena, «by long practice».
That is, practice against practice; and no other remedy is named. This construction, I think, is honest and worth stating. It means that the evil in a person is not an accident and not something foreign: it has been acquired, and acquired by the same means as the good.
And hence it is not removed either by exposure or by decision: one can expose a deception, but a habit is not a deception — it is a rut. The Vaishnava side holds this and has its own remark on it, worth citing, for it softens the verse's severity. It says: the new practice need not equal the old in length, for it does not proceed by the strength of the person alone.
Its verse on this account is Bhāgavatam 6.1.15, cited at Jābāla-darśana (4.54): hindrances scatter as fog scatters before the sun; and fog gathered all night disperses in a quarter hour. That is, the count of years does not apply here: hundreds of births of evil do not require hundreds of births of good, if the good is not done by one's own strength alone.