Upanishads · Varāha 2.44
॥
Devanāgarī
ममेति बध्यते जन्तुर्निर्ममेति विमुच्यते । बाह्यचिन्ता न कर्तव्या तथैवान्तरचिन्तिका । सर्वचिन्तां समुत्सृज्य स्वस्थो भव सदा ऋभो
Transliteration (IAST)
mameti badhyate janturnirmameti vimucyate | bāhyacintā na kartavyā tathaivāntaracintikā | sarvacintāṃ samutsṛjya svastho bhava sadā ṛbho
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मम इति बध्यते जन्तुःmama iti badhyate jantuḥ'mine' — and the creature is bound
निर्मम इति विमुच्यतेnirmama iti vimucyate'not mine' — and it is liberated
बाह्य-चिन्ता न कर्तव्याbāhya-cintā na kartavyāthere should be no external reflection
सर्व-चिन्तां समुत्सृज्यsarva-cintāṃ samutsṛjyahaving abandoned every reflection
स्वस्थः भव सदा ऋभोsvasthaḥ bhava sadā ṛbhobe always self-abiding, O Ribhu
Translation
"'Mine' — and the creature is bound; 'not mine' — and it is liberated. There should be neither external reflection nor internal; having abandoned every reflection, be always self-abiding, O Ribhu."
Version
6d6547ed6af6 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first half repeats what has been said, and it has been discussed; let us examine the second. It says sarva-chintam samutsrijya, "having abandoned every reflection"; and both are rejected — external and internal. Worth noting is that this is a prescription of an empty mind.
We have examined such a prescription more than once, and each time pointed out the same difficulty: the mind is never empty. Let us repeat it briefly. One cannot command oneself not to think: the command itself is a thought, and a forbidden thought is strengthened by the prohibition.
What is prescribed in practice is shown by the word svastha, "self-abiding," literally "standing in one's own." That is, it is not every content that is rejected, but scattering: do not think this way or that, but stand in your own. Read this way, the prescription is performable; and it is exactly what the Gita calls ekagra-sthiti, single-directedness.
The Vaishnava side proposes the same, but with an object: not "stand in your own," but "stand with Him"; and of the difference between silence and occupation, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (10.1). The next two verses of this very book will say exactly what it says; and hence the prescription of emptiness standing here will, one line on, be cancelled by the text itself.