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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.25
॥
Devanāgarī
दृढाभ्यस्तपदार्थैकभावनादतिचञ्चलम् । चित्तं संजायते जन्मजरामरणकारणम्
Transliteration (IAST)
dṛḍhābhyastapadārthaikabhāvanādaticañcalam | cittaṃ saṃjāyate janmajarāmaraṇakāraṇam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दृढ-अभ्यस्त-पदार्थ-dṛḍha-abhyasta-padārtha-from a firmly practiced object
एक-भावनात् अति-चञ्चलम्eka-bhāvanāt ati-cañcalamfrom a single imagining, exceedingly restless
चित्तं संजायतेcittaṃ saṃjāyatemind arises
जन्म-जरा-मरण-कारणम्janma-jarā-maraṇa-kāraṇamcause of birth, old age, and death
Translation
«From a single imagining of a firmly practiced object, mind arises, exceedingly restless — the cause of birth, old age, and death».
Version
c4418503e7d1 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting a contradiction built into the verse itself and, I think, deliberate: from a firm and single imagining is born a mind exceedingly restless. One would expect the single to give rise to the steady. The explanation, apparently, is this: an object firmly driven into the imagination makes the mind a hunter — it seeks that object everywhere, and hence rushes about.
This reading, I think, is correct and checkable by anyone. A person whose one thought is of money, of a grievance, of a desired thing, is the most restless of people; and his restlessness comes precisely from the singleness of the thought, not from its scatter. That is, the mind's restlessness is a consequence of firm attachment, not its opposite.
The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and it was said at Śāṭyāyanī (14) that the mind is gathered not by effort but by what it is given to occupy itself with. Add what follows from this. If restlessness comes from a single thought, it is cured not by scattering but by changing the object: not «think of many things», but «let the single thought be of what does not flee».
And the difference lies in the object: what is desired flees, and hence one chases it; but he who is everywhere does not flee — and it was said at Saubhāgyalakṣmī (2.19) that «wherever the mind goes, there he is».