Upanishads · Varāha 2.2
॥
Devanāgarī
स्ववर्णाश्रमधर्मेण तपसा गुरुतोषणात् । साधनं प्रभवेत्पुंसां वैराग्यादिचतुष्टयम्
Transliteration (IAST)
svavarṇāśramadharmeṇa tapasā gurutoṣaṇāt | sādhanaṃ prabhavetpuṃsāṃ vairāgyādicatuṣṭayam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्व-वर्ण-आश्रम-धर्मेणsva-varṇa-āśrama-dharmeṇaby one's own caste-and-station duty
तपसा गुरु-तोषणात्tapasā guru-toṣaṇātby austerity, by pleasing the teacher
साधनं प्रभवेत् पुंसांsādhanaṃ prabhavet puṃsāṃlet the means arise for people
वैराग्य-आदि-चतुष्टयम्vairāgya-ādi-catuṣṭayamthe quaternity beginning with dispassion
Translation
"By one's own caste-and-station duty, by austerity, by pleasing the teacher, let the means arise for people: the quaternity beginning with dispassion."
Version
033c39157702 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three preparations and a quaternity of means are named; and the order deserves noting. First, sva-varna-ashrama-dharma, "one's own duty by caste and station" — that is, ordinary life, performed as it should be. Then tapas, austerity. Then guru-toshana, "pleasing the teacher."
And only after this — the quaternity, examined in the next verse. Let us pause on the third, for the word chosen is unusual. Toshana means "satisfaction, pleasing," from tush, "to be content." Not "service" and not "obedience," but precisely making him content.
This nuance deserves holding onto, for it presumes the teacher can be left unsatisfied even while everything prescribed is performed. The Vaishnava side insists on this, stating the same in a well-known verse: yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado, "by his grace — the grace of the Lord"; and hence, in its practice, one asks not "did I perform it," but "is he pleased." Let us add what deserves saying of the first of the three, for it draws objection in Vaishnava tradition.
We reject caste duty as a condition of access, and this has been discussed more than once. But here it is named not a condition of access, but a preparation; and in this form it means simply: first do what is already yours to do. Read this way, there is nothing to dispute: a person who cannot manage ordinary duties rarely manages extraordinary ones.