Upanishads · Varāha 2.48
॥
Devanāgarī
रागं नीरागतां नीत्वा निर्लेपो भव सर्वदा । अज्ञानजन्यकर्त्रादिकारकोत्पन्नकर्मणा
Transliteration (IAST)
rāgaṃ nīrāgatāṃ nītvā nirlepo bhava sarvadā | ajñānajanyakartrādikārakotpannakarmaṇā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
रागं नीरागतां नीत्वाrāgaṃ nīrāgatāṃ nītvāpassion, having turned it into dispassion
निर्लेपः भव सर्वदाnirlepaḥ bhava sarvadābe always stainless
अ-ज्ञान-जन्य-कर्तृ-आदि-a-jñāna-janya-kartṛ-ādi-by deed produced by the doer and the rest
कारक-उत्पन्न-कर्मणाkāraka-utpanna-karmaṇāinstruments born of ignorance
Translation
"Having turned passion into dispassion, be always stainless. By deed produced by the doer and the other instruments born of ignorance…"
Version
80afc6f29157 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the phrase ragam niragatam nitva, "having turned passion into dispassion." The verb ni, "to lead, to bring," means not destruction, but conversion: passion is turned, not destroyed. This nuance deserves holding onto, for it diverges from what was said in verse thirty-seven, where the objects of the senses were called poison.
Poison is not turned into medicine by aversion; it is turned by different use. The Vaishnava side reasons exactly this way, discussed when reading the Rudraksha-jabala (2.15): attraction is not vicious, its direction is; and the Gita calls attraction that does not run against the code Himself (7.11). Let us add what deserves saying of the word vairagya, "dispassion," itself.
It is from vi-raj, "to lose color"; literally — "decolorization," discussed when reading the Yajnavalkya (p4). That is, dispassion is a loss of color, not a loss of sight: objects remain visible, but stop luring. Let us add what it says of two kinds of dispassion, and what deserves knowing.
Phalgu-vairagya, "false [dispassion]," is rejecting things fit for service merely because they are things. Yukta-vairagya, "fitting [dispassion]," is using them for His sake. And the difference between them, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (4.22), lies not in how much a person has, but in for whom.