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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.43
॥
Devanāgarī
उपविश्योपविश्यैकां चिन्तकेन मुहुर्मुहुः । न शक्यते मनो जेतुं विना युक्तिमनिन्दिताम्
Transliteration (IAST)
upaviśyopaviśyaikāṃ cintakena muhurmuhuḥ | na śakyate mano jetuṃ vinā yuktimaninditām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
उपविश्य उपविश्य एकांupaviśya upaviśya ekāṃsitting down and sitting down, one
चिन्तकेन मुहुः मुहुःcintakena muhuḥ muhuḥthinking, again and again
न शक्यते मनः जेतुंna śakyate manaḥ jetuṃit is not possible to conquer the mind
विना युक्तिम् अ-निन्दिताम्vinā yuktim a-ninditāmwithout an unblemished technique
Translation
«Sitting down and sitting down, thinking of one thing again and again — it is not possible to conquer the mind without an unblemished technique».
Version
7159d3eb2932 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Worth noting the phrase upaviśyopaviśya, «sitting down and sitting down», and muhur muhuḥ, «again and again». Both reduplications mean tiresome repetition: he sits, rises, sits again. That is, a person is described who tries with all his might and does not advance; and anyone who has tried to concentrate by force will recognize this description.
And it is said: without yukti this will not come out. The word yukti means «technique, method, skill», from yuj; and here it is set against bare effort. That is, the book distinguishes striving and skill, and says that striving without skill is fruitless.
This distinction, I think, is the main point in this part of the chapter and is worth stating. Add the word aninditā, «unblemished, faultless», applied to the technique. That is, the technique must be not only effective but clean; and this reservation is not idle — techniques can be foul too, and the six practices of the tantric usage were spoken of at Dattātreya (2.4).
The Vaishnava side holds precisely this: for it a means is tested not only by whether it works but by what it is in itself; and it was said there too that a prayer for harm to another is not a prayer.