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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.60
॥
Devanāgarī
वासनावेगवैचित्र्यात्स्वरूपं न जहाति तत् । भ्रान्तं पश्यति दुर्दृष्टिः सर्वं मदवशादिव
Transliteration (IAST)
vāsanāvegavaicitryātsvarūpaṃ na jahāti tat | bhrāntaṃ paśyati durdṛṣṭiḥ sarvaṃ madavaśādiva
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वासना-वेग-वैचित्र्यात्vāsanā-vega-vaicitryātfrom the variety of the impulses of habit
स्व-रूपं न जहाति तत्sva-rūpaṃ na jahāti tatit does not abandon its own form
भ्रान्तं पश्यति दुर्दृष्टिःbhrāntaṃ paśyati durdṛṣṭiḥdeludedly, one of bad sight sees
सर्वं मद-वशात् इवsarvaṃ mada-vaśāt ivaeverything, as if under the sway of intoxication
Translation
«From the variety of the impulses of habit, it [consciousness] does not abandon its own form; and one of bad sight sees everything deludedly, as if under the sway of intoxication».
Version
61fa210acacf · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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A comparison with intoxication is given: mada-vaśād iva, «as if under the sway of drunkenness». Worth examining it, for it is more exact than it seems, and differs from the other comparisons of this kind. A drunken man does not stop seeing: he sees the same as the sober; but he sees askew — things double, sway, seem other than they are.
That is, the deception here lies not in the thing's absence, but in the one looking being impaired. This comparison, I think, is better than the rope-and-snake and better than the mother-of-pearl-and-silver, and here is why. There it was supposed the thing does not exist at all: no snake, no silver.
Here the thing does exist, and is the same thing; the eye is impaired. The Vaishnava side holds precisely this reading, and it was spoken of at Varāha (3.15) and (3.17): the world is real, and what is impaired is perception; and hence the cure is not the negation of the world but the correction of the eye. Add the first half-verse, which confirms this: svarūpaṃ na jahāti tat, «it does not abandon its own form».
That is, consciousness, through all its varied impulses, remains itself; what changes is not it, but the picture it gives. And this, I think, is the exact statement of the Vaishnava reading: the object is whole, the seer is drunk.