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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.16
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्माद्वासनया युक्तं मनो बद्धं विदुर्बुधाः । सम्यग्वासनया त्यक्तं मुक्तमित्यभिधीयते । मनोनिर्वासनीभावमाचराशु महाकपे
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmādvāsanayā yuktaṃ mano baddhaṃ vidurbudhāḥ | samyagvāsanayā tyaktaṃ muktamityabhidhīyate | manonirvāsanībhāvamācarāśu mahākape
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात् वासनया युक्तंtasmāt vāsanayā yuktaṃtherefore, joined to habit
मनः बद्धं विदुः बुधाःmanaḥ baddhaṃ viduḥ budhāḥthe wise know the mind as bound
सम्यक् वासनया त्यक्तंsamyak vāsanayā tyaktaṃfully abandoned by habit
मुक्तम् इति अभिधीयतेmuktam iti abhidhīyateit is called liberated
मनः निर्वासनी-भावम्manaḥ nirvāsanī-bhāvamthe state of mind without habit
आचर आशु महा-कपेācara āśu mahā-kapeaccomplish quickly, great monkey
Translation
«Therefore the wise know the mind joined to habit as bound; and fully abandoned by habit, it is called liberated. Accomplish quickly, great monkey, the habitless state of mind».
Version
ee355e932b27 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A definition of bondage and freedom is given, and it is basic in this chapter: vāsanayā yuktaṃ manaḥ baddham, «the mind joined to habit is bound». That is, bondage is ascribed not to the body, not to actions, not to the world, but to habit. This definition, I think, is exact and worth stating.
A person is unfree not because he has a body and duties, but because he cannot do otherwise: the rut decides for him. And freedom is defined accordingly: not as the absence of duties, but as the absence of compulsion to them. The Vaishnava side accepts this definition fully and has its own the same; and it was said at Varāha (5.37) that the body is put to use, not merely arranged.
Its objection begins at the word nirvāsanī-bhāva, «the habitless state». It asks: is the mind ever entirely without a rut? And answers: it is not; for the mind by its very structure is that which grows habituated, and stripping it of every rut yields not freedom but inaction. Hence its own prescription is not rutlessness but nitya-yukta, «constantly joined»: one rut, and a good one.
And add that this very chapter said the same four verses above (2.3–2.7): habit can be good, and the remedy is transfer into another channel. So «the habitless state» must be read as the absence of evil ruts, not of all.