Upanishads · Tārasāra 1.4
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मादविमुक्तमेव निषेवेत । अविमुक्तं न विमुञ्चेत् । एवमेवैष भगवन्निति वै याज्ञवल्क्यः
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmādavimuktameva niṣeveta | avimuktaṃ na vimuñcet | evamevaiṣa bhagavanniti vai yājñavalkyaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात् अ-विमुक्तम् एव निषेवेतtasmāt a-vimuktam eva niṣevetatherefore let him revere Avimukta alone
अ-विमुक्तं न विमुञ्चेत्a-vimuktaṃ na vimuñcetlet him not abandon Avimukta
एवम् एव एषः भगवन् इतिevam eva eṣaḥ bhagavan iti'so it is indeed, lord'
वै याज्ञवल्क्यःvai yājñavalkyaḥ[said] Yājñavalkya
Translation
«Therefore let him revere Avimukta alone, let him not abandon Avimukta. 'So it is indeed, lord' — [said] Yājñavalkya».
Version
d66c1af78354 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Avimukta, "not abandoned," is a name of Kāśī, discussed at length in the Bhasma-jābāla (2.35): by tradition, Śiva never abandons this city. It is worth noting the wordplay on which the whole line is built: avimuktaṃ na vimuñcet, "let him not abandon the not-abandoned." That is, the person is called on to answer in kind: a place that does not abandon should not be abandoned by you either.
This turn of phrase, for all its verbal cleverness, contains a thought worth attention. Fidelity is described as mutuality: hold to what holds you. The Vaiṣṇava side expresses this relation in one of its most beloved verses, where both sides are named. The Gītā: teṣām ahaṃ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṃsāra-sāgarāt bhavāmi na cirāt, "for them I quickly become the deliverer from the ocean of mortal transmigration" (12.7); and the condition is named the line above: "who, entrusting all actions to Me, ... reveres, contemplating" (12.6).
It is worth noting the order in this verse: first the person entrusts, then He delivers. Mutuality, not one-sidedness. Let us add what follows from this and settles the old dispute over what saves — effort or grace. That dispute, framed this way, is unresolvable; but framed as "mutuality," it does not even arise, for every relation is by its very structure two-sided.
The words evam eva eṣa bhagavan, "so it is indeed, lord," are the closing formula of assent: Yājñavalkya confirms what Bṛhaspati has said, and the first dialogue ends here.