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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.69
॥
Devanāgarī
मानसीर्वासनाः पूर्वं त्यक्त्वा विषयवासनाः । मैत्र्यादिवासनानाम्नीर्गृहाणामलवासनाः
Transliteration (IAST)
mānasīrvāsanāḥ pūrvaṃ tyaktvā viṣayavāsanāḥ | maitryādivāsanānāmnīrgṛhāṇāmalavāsanāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मानसीः वासनाः पूर्वंmānasīḥ vāsanāḥ pūrvaṃmental habits, first
त्यक्त्वा विषय-वासनाःtyaktvā viṣaya-vāsanāḥhaving abandoned, sensory habits
मैत्री-आदि-वासना-नाम्नीःmaitrī-ādi-vāsanā-nāmnīḥnamed friendliness and the rest
गृहाण अ-मल-वासनाःgṛhāṇa a-mala-vāsanāḥtake up pure habits
Translation
«Having first abandoned sensory habits, take up pure mental habits, named friendliness and the rest».
Version
1c464177cbfe · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A prescription to take up habits is given, and this is worth stating, for it overturns the usual reading of this whole chapter. It does not say «abandon all», but: abandon the sensory, and gṛhāṇa, «take up», the pure. And they are named by name: maitry-ādi, «friendliness and the rest» — the very four of Patañjali (1.33) spoken of when reading the thirty-fourth verse: friendliness, compassion, joy at the good, unconcern at the bad.
That is, the ladder is built so: first the habits toward things fall away, then the habits toward people are taken up. This construction, I think, is the best in this chapter after the verse about the child-mind, and here is why. It leaves no empty space: between the abandonment of the bad and the highest state a good occupation is inserted, not a void.
It was noted at Varāha (5.43) that if three paths are closed and a fourth not opened, the result is not gathering but anguish; here the book does not allow this itself. The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and its nine practices — hearing, singing, remembering, serving — are exactly such taken-up habits. Add what is worth noting: the four named are relations toward people, not toward oneself; and this, I think, is worth marking — at the middle rung stands not self-absorption, but dealing with one's neighbors.