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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.61
॥
Devanāgarī
वासना द्विविधा प्रोक्ता शुद्धा च मलिना तथा । मलिना जन्महेतुः स्याच्छुद्धा जन्मविनाशिनी
Transliteration (IAST)
vāsanā dvividhā proktā śuddhā ca malinā tathā | malinā janmahetuḥ syācchuddhā janmavināśinī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वासना द्वि-विधा प्रोक्ताvāsanā dvi-vidhā proktāhabit is proclaimed twofold
शुद्धा च मलिना तथाśuddhā ca malinā tathāpure and likewise soiled
मलिना जन्म-हेतुः स्यात्malinā janma-hetuḥ syātthe soiled is the cause of birth
शुद्धा जन्म-विनाशिनीśuddhā janma-vināśinīthe pure destroys birth
Translation
«Habit is proclaimed twofold: pure and soiled. The soiled is the cause of birth, and the pure destroys birth».
Version
d68b14068204 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse repeats what was said in the third verse of this chapter, and this repetition, in such a book, is not superfluous: habit can also be good. Let the conclusion be repeated briefly, for it is, I think, the chief practical position of this whole second chapter. Other books demanded the exhaustion of habits in general; this one distinguishes, and proposes not to erase the rut, but to cut a new one.
And the Vaishnava side holds the same: the old rut is not erased, but overgrown, because one drives the new. Add what is added here to the third verse: the pure habit is called janma-vināśinī, «destroying birth». That is, a good habit is not merely better than a bad one: it leads out.
This position, I think, is worth noting, for it diverges from the usual assertion in these books that even the good binds with a golden chain; we cited it when reading the thirty-first verse. That is, here too the book speaks doubly: in one place the good is told to be abandoned, in another it destroys birth. The Vaishnava side resolves this by its own distinction, cited there too: the chain is abandoned, not the occupation; and a golden chain ceases to be a chain when it is worn not for the gold.
On this reading, both places agree: a pure habit leads out, so long as it has not been claimed.