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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.23
॥
Devanāgarī
अयत्नोपनतेष्वक्षि दृग्द्रव्येषु यथा पुनः । नीरागमेव पतति तद्वत्कार्येषु धीरधीः
Transliteration (IAST)
ayatnopanateṣvakṣi dṛgdravyeṣu yathā punaḥ | nīrāgameva patati tadvatkāryeṣu dhīradhīḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अ-यत्न-उपनतेषु अक्षिa-yatna-upanateṣu akṣiwithout effort, having come, upon the eye
दृक्-द्रव्येषु यथा पुनःdṛk-dravyeṣu yathā punaḥupon objects of sight, again as
नीरागम् एव पततिnīrāgam eva patatipassionless, indeed, it falls [the gaze]
तत्-वत् कार्येषु धीर-धीःtat-vat kāryeṣu dhīra-dhīḥjust so, upon deeds — the firm-minded one
Translation
«As the gaze, passionless, falls upon objects of sight that have come without effort — so too, upon deeds, the firm-minded one…»
Version
7f3ca52ef19b · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A comparison is given, simple and exact: the gaze falling on what happens to be there. Worth examining it, for it explains what it means to act without attachment. The eye, walking down the street, sees a hundred things; and it chose none of them.
It does not reach for them and does not turn away: they appeared ayatnopanateṣu, «without effort», and it sees them. And it is said that the firm-minded man deals with deeds the same way: they come of themselves, and he does them. Add the word nirāgam, «passionless», from rāga, «passion, coloring».
Literally «uncolored»; that is, the gaze does not take on the color of what it falls upon. This image, I think, is the best of all conceived in these books about dispassion, and here is why. It does not require not looking: it requires not being colored.
The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and its yukta-vairāgya, «joined dispassion», spoken of at Jābāla-darśana (7.4), is exactly this: not to turn from deeds, but not to claim them as one's own. Add what follows from the comparison, against itself: the eye still chooses where to rest; and hence it describes not full dispassion, but only its beginning.