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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.57
॥
Devanāgarī
दृढभावनया त्यक्तपूर्वापरविचारणम् । यदादानं पदार्थस्य वासना सा प्रकीर्तिता
Transliteration (IAST)
dṛḍhabhāvanayā tyaktapūrvāparavicāraṇam | yadādānaṃ padārthasya vāsanā sā prakīrtitā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दृढ-भावनया त्यक्त-dṛḍha-bhāvanayā tyakta-by firm imagining, having abandoned
पूर्व-अपर-विचारणम्pūrva-apara-vicāraṇamthe consideration of prior and later
यत् आदानं पदार्थस्यyat ādānaṃ padārthasyawhat taking-up of an object
वासना सा प्रकीर्तिताvāsanā sā prakīrtitāthat is proclaimed as habit
Translation
«That taking-up of an object which, by firm imagining, has abandoned the consideration of prior and later — that is proclaimed as habit».
Version
3b59f94d1c98 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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A definition of vāsanā is given, and it is, I think, the best in the whole chapter; worth examining part by part. Habit is the taking-up of an object, in which pūrva-apara-vicāraṇam, «the consideration of prior and later», has been abandoned. That is, a person takes a thing without asking what came before and what will come after.
This definition, I think, is exact and checkable by anyone. A habit is recognized precisely by this: it does not reason. A person whose hand reaches for the same thing does not weigh it — he takes; and whatever he says afterward in justification is thought up after the fact.
And conversely: as long as one is reasoning, there is not yet habit, but choice. The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and it is worth noting what follows from it for treatment. If habit is a taking-up without consideration, the first remedy is to insert an interval: not a prohibition, but a pause, into which enters the question «what came before and what will come after».
Add what it adds to this and what makes the remedy workable. The question «what will come after» works weakly, for the future is not seen; what works is the memory of what has been. Hence its own practice rests not on threats but on narratives: it tells what happened to others; and it was said at Kṛṣṇa-upaniṣad (1.2) that the teaching is set forth by a story, not by a definition.