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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.47
॥
Devanāgarī
विमूढाः कर्तुमुद्युक्ता ये हठाच्चेतसो जयम् । ते निबध्नन्ति नागेन्द्रमुन्मत्तं बिसतन्तुभिः
Transliteration (IAST)
vimūḍhāḥ kartumudyuktā ye haṭhāccetaso jayam | te nibadhnanti nāgendramunmattaṃ bisatantubhiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
विमूढाः कर्तुम् उद्युक्ताःvimūḍhāḥ kartum udyuktāḥthe deluded, who have set out to do
ये हठात् चेतसः जयम्ye haṭhāt cetasaḥ jayamby force the conquest of consciousness
ते निबध्नन्ति नाग-इन्द्रम्te nibadhnanti nāga-indramthey bind the lord of elephants
उन्मत्तं बिस-तन्तुभिःunmattaṃ bisa-tantubhiḥmaddened, with fibers of the lotus
Translation
«The deluded, who have set out to conquer consciousness by force — they bind the maddened lord of elephants with fibers of the lotus».
Version
ee8ba3bd42ab · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A second comparison on the same subject, no less good: nibadhnanti nāgendram unmattaṃ bisa-tantubhiḥ, «they bind a maddened elephant-king with fibers of the lotus». Worth noting that the very fibers of the lotus stalk are taken which in the thirteenth verse stood for the knots of the heart. There they were what breaks when the halves are drawn apart; here — what one tries to bind with.
That is, the image is used twice, and with opposite sign; and this, I think, is done with intent. The sense of the comparison is this: force is met against the mind with an unfit tool — not for want of effort, but because the tool is of the wrong nature. Add that the elephant is called unmatta, «maddened», that is, in must: at such a time an elephant is not held even by chains.
That is, the book says: the mind in riot is a force to which direct effort is entirely disproportionate; and anyone who has tried to overcome a passion at its height knows this is so. The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and its rule was cited at the fifteenth verse: dūrataḥ tyaktvā, «abandoned from afar». That is, one does not wrestle an elephant in must: one does not let it near.
Add what it offers in place of the rope, for to object while giving nothing would be cheap: not to bind the elephant, but to give him something to go after himself; and it was said at Varāha (2.80) that if the mind is given something to occupy it, it will hold the senses.