Upanishads · Avadhūta 20
॥
Devanāgarī
विरलत्वं व्यवहृतेरिष्टं चेद्ध्यानमस्तु ते । बाधिकर्मव्यवहृतिं पश्यन्ध्यायाम्यहं कुतः
Transliteration (IAST)
viralatvaṃ vyavahṛteriṣṭaṃ ceddhyānamastu te | bādhikarmavyavahṛtiṃ paśyandhyāyāmyahaṃ kutaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
विरलत्वं व्यवहृतेःviralatvaṃ vyavahṛteḥa thinning-out of one's dealings
इष्टं चेत् ध्यानम् अस्तु तेiṣṭaṃ cet dhyānam astu teif that is desired — let contemplation be yours
बाधि-कर्म-व्यवहृतिं पश्यन्bādhi-karma-vyavahṛtiṃ paśyanseeing the dealing as an act already annulled
ध्यायामि अहं कुतःdhyāyāmi ahaṃ kutaḥwhy would I contemplate
Translation
If a thinning-out of your dealings is desired — let contemplation be yours; but I, seeing the dealing as an act already annulled, why would I contemplate?
Version
9433ad0f820f · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This line is notable for being the first in which the speaker addresses another — astu te, "let it be yours." Note the change of tone. All the preceding lines were about "them": let the ignorant wander, let them perform, let them listen. But here — "yours"; and it is said without contempt, but as advice: if you need your affairs to become fewer, contemplate.
This advice is, incidentally, sound and practical. Viralatva vyavahṛteḥ, "a thinning-out of dealings," is what every busy person seeks: for there to be fewer things to do. And it is said: this is achieved by contemplation.
A true and verifiable observation. For a person who sets aside time each day for concentration, affairs over time become fewer — not because they are taken away, but because he stops taking on the unnecessary. An hour given to stillness pays for itself in that afterward one does not begin the needless.
The Vaiṣṇava reading accepts this advice and applies it to the daily rule. And let us note also: the address "yours" is the first sign that the speaker has remembered his interlocutor. This whole speech has, until now, been a monologue; and that a second person finally appears in it is to the book's credit.