Upanishads · Varāha 2.55
॥
Devanāgarī
त्रिणाचिकादियोगान्ता ईश्वरभ्रान्तिमाश्रिताः । लोकायतादिसाङ्ख्यान्ता जीवविश्रान्तिमाश्रिताः
Transliteration (IAST)
triṇācikādiyogāntā īśvarabhrāntimāśritāḥ | lokāyatādisāṅkhyāntā jīvaviśrāntimāśritāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
त्रिणाचिकेत-आदि-योग-अन्ताःtriṇāciketa-ādi-yoga-antāḥ[teachings] from Trinachiketa to yoga
ईश्वर-भ्रान्तिम् आश्रिताःīśvara-bhrāntim āśritāḥrest on delusion about the lord
लोकायत-आदि-साङ्ख्य-अन्ताःlokāyata-ādi-sāṅkhya-antāḥ[teachings] from Lokayata to Sankhya
जीव-विश्रान्तिम् आश्रिताःjīva-viśrāntim āśritāḥrest on repose in the living being
Translation
"[Teachings] from Trinachiketa to yoga rest on delusion about the lord; [teachings] from Lokayata to Sankhya rest on repose in the living being."
Version
0f3a69ff9654 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line is an inventory of schools, and an insulting one: some are declared deluded about the Lord, others settled on the soul. Two rows are listed. The first: from trinachiketa (the three-fire rite of the Katha) to yoga — that is, ritual and yogic teachings that acknowledge the Lord.
The second: from lokayata (the Charvaka teaching, denying everything but matter) to sankhya — that is, teachings that manage without the Lord. And both are called incomplete. Let us say plainly that such an inventory is a polemical device, and a common one: every school arranges the others as rungs leading up to itself.
The Vaishnava side does the same, and this must be acknowledged: its own books arrange teachings on a ladder with itself at the top. Let us add, however, what must be said of the word ishvara-bhranti, "delusion about the lord," itself. This word is harsh: the worship of the Lord is called a delusion.
And it stands in a book spoken by the boar-formed Lord and beginning with the words "breaker of the devotees' anguish" (2.1). The contradiction here is complete, and we do not reconcile it; of such insertions, discussed when reading verse eleven. Let us add only what deserves remembering of such inventories in general: every school judges the others by its own measure, and hence an inventory of schools says more about its compiler than about those described.