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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.70
॥
Devanāgarī
ता अप्यतः परित्यज्य ताभिर्व्यवहरन्नपि । अन्तःशान्तः समस्नेहो भव चिन्मात्रवासनः
Transliteration (IAST)
tā apyataḥ parityajya tābhirvyavaharannapi | antaḥśāntaḥ samasneho bhava cinmātravāsanaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ताः अपि अतः परित्यज्यtāḥ api ataḥ parityajyathem too, then, having abandoned
ताभिः व्यवहरन् अपिtābhiḥ vyavaharan apiby them, however, dealing [with people]
अन्तः-शान्तः सम-स्नेहःantaḥ-śāntaḥ sama-snehaḥinwardly stilled, of equal affection
भव चित्-मात्र-वासनःbhava cit-mātra-vāsanaḥbe, having a habit of consciousness alone
Translation
«And having abandoned these too, but still dealing [with people] by them, be inwardly stilled, of equal affection, having a habit of consciousness alone».
Version
d9fa01acf513 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting the reservation made here, which changes everything: tābhir vyavaharann api, «and still dealing by them». That is, one is told to abandon the good habits — and to keep acting by them. This construction seems contradictory at first sight and is in fact exact; it is worth stating.
What is to be abandoned is the clinging to them: to stop counting one's friendliness as one's own merit, one's own measure of self. And one is told to act by them just as before. That is, what is taken away is the claiming, not the practice; and this is exactly the distinction cited at the thirty-first verse: the chain is abandoned, not the occupation.
The Vaishnava side holds precisely this, and it is worth noting that this very verse is, I think, its best confirmation in the whole book: the book itself, having demanded that even the good be abandoned, here qualifies that one must act as before. Add the word sama-sneha, «of equal affection», literally «of even tenderness». Worth noting that it says not «indifferent», but equally loving: evenness is referred not to the absence of feeling, but to its impartiality.
And this, I think, is the exact definition of what is to be expected of the one who has attained: not that he love no one, but that he love without preference.