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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.45
॥
Devanāgarī
वासनासम्परित्यागः प्राणस्पन्दनिरोधनम् । एतास्ता युक्तयः पुष्टाः सन्ति चित्तजये किल
Transliteration (IAST)
vāsanāsamparityāgaḥ prāṇaspandanirodhanam | etāstā yuktayaḥ puṣṭāḥ santi cittajaye kila
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वासना-सम्परित्यागःvāsanā-samparityāgaḥfull abandonment of habits
प्राण-स्पन्द-निरोधनम्prāṇa-spanda-nirodhanamrestraint of the movement of breath
एताः ताः युक्तयः पुष्टाःetāḥ tāḥ yuktayaḥ puṣṭāḥthese — those techniques, sturdy
सन्ति चित्त-जये किलsanti citta-jaye kilaare for the conquest of mind, indeed
Translation
«…full abandonment of habits and restraint of the movement of breath — these, sturdy techniques, are for the conquest of mind, indeed».
Version
4dc014caca7c · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list is complete: four techniques — knowledge, company, abandonment of habits, and breath. Worth noting that this list agrees with what was said in the tenth verse, where three things were required together; and here company is added to the three. Add what is worth saying of the word yukti, «technique», itself, for it is repeated here.
It was noted at the forty-third verse that it is set against bare effort; here it stands in the plural — yuktayaḥ, «techniques». That is, there are several techniques, and a person is free to choose; and this contradicts what was said at the thirty-eighth verse — «the means is but one». This contradiction was noted there too, and again it points to the compiled character of the chapter.
The Vaishnava side holds the second of the four and takes it to contain the rest; and its argument is this. In good company knowledge comes of itself — for it is spoken of there; habits diminish of themselves — for there are no occasions there; and breath is stilled of itself — for there is nothing there to be anxious about. That is, for it company is named not as one of the four, but as that within which the other three are done; and it was said at Muktikā (1.28) that character is caught from people, not read out of books.