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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.59
॥
Devanāgarī
तादृग्रूपो हि पुरुषो वासनाविवशीकृतः । सम्पश्यति यदैवैतत्सद्वस्त्विति विमुह्यति
Transliteration (IAST)
tādṛgrūpo hi puruṣo vāsanāvivaśīkṛtaḥ | sampaśyati yadaivaitatsadvastviti vimuhyati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तादृक्-रूपः हि पुरुषःtādṛk-rūpaḥ hi puruṣaḥfor a person of such a form indeed
वासना-विवशी-कृतःvāsanā-vivaśī-kṛtaḥmade subject to habit
सम्पश्यति यदा एव एतत्sampaśyati yadā eva etatwhen he sees this very thing
सत् वस्तु इति विमुह्यतिsat vastu iti vimuhyatias a true thing, he is deluded
Translation
«For a person made subject to habit takes on the form of that [habit]; and when he sees this as a true thing — he is deluded».
Version
b856dcc8af28 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting the word vivaśīkṛta, «made subject», literally «deprived of power over oneself». That is, habit is described as the taking away of will; and this agrees with what was said when reading the sixteenth verse, where bonds were defined through habit. Add the main point: tādṛg-rūpaḥ, «takes on the form of that».
That is, a person does not merely act by habit, but is made by it: it becomes his form. This position we examined at Śātyāyanī (3), where it stood yac-cittas tan-mayo bhavati, «whatever the mind holds, that the person becomes»; and here it is applied to the evil. Add the last half-line: the delusion consists in his seeing this as sad vastu, «a true thing».
That is, the trouble is not in what he does, but in that he takes his own representation for reality. The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and the distinction between bhāvanā (a representation constructed by the mind) and dhyāna (contemplation of what is real) was spoken of at Varāha (5.40). Let the test be repeated from there, for it is simple: what is imagined obeys the imaginer, and what is real does not.