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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.66
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वदेहाशुचिगन्धेन न विरज्येत यः पुमान् । विरागकारणं तस्य किमन्यदुपदिश्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
svadehāśucigandhena na virajyeta yaḥ pumān | virāgakāraṇaṃ tasya kimanyadupadiśyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्व-देह-अ-शुचि-गन्धेनsva-deha-a-śuci-gandhenaby the smell of the impurity of his own body
न विरज्येत यः पुमान्na virajyeta yaḥ pumānif a man does not cool
विराग-कारणं तस्यvirāga-kāraṇaṃ tasyathe cause of dispassion for him
किम् अन्यत् उपदिश्यतेkim anyat upadiśyatewhat other is taught
Translation
«If a man does not cool at the smell of his own body's impurity, what other cause of dispassion will be taught to him?»
Version
b1190f0a246e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse is coarse, and this must be said plainly, for this device recurs in such books and we have already examined it. It was said at Yājñavalkya (5) that of the ten verses reviling the female body, the chief thing to note is: the argument «take it apart» applies to any body, including the speaker's own. Here the book does exactly this: it turns the argument upon itself.
It does not say «look at her», but «smell yourself». This detail, I think, matters and does the verse credit: it does not demean another, but sobers the speaker. Add, however, what must be said in substance, for we do not pass over it.
Dispassion won by revulsion is a weak dispassion; and everyone knows this from experience — revulsion tires, and passes. The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and its argument was cited at Jābāla-darśana (4.9): attraction departs not from disgust but from a better taste; and Gītā 2.59 says exactly this. Add what it says of the body, and how it differs from this verse.
It does not call the body impure and does not teach one to hate it; it calls it fit for service, and it was said at Varāha (5.37) that the body is put to use, not exhausted and not pampered.