Upanishads · Varāha 4.5
॥
Devanāgarī
विचारणाशुभेच्छाभ्यामिन्द्रियार्थेषु रक्तता । यत्र सा तनुतामेति प्रोच्यते तनुमानसी
Transliteration (IAST)
vicāraṇāśubhecchābhyāmindriyārtheṣu raktatā | yatra sā tanutāmeti procyate tanumānasī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
विचारणा-शुभ-इच्छाभ्याम्vicāraṇā-śubha-icchābhyāmby examination and good desire
इन्द्रिय-अर्थेषु रक्तताindriya-artheṣu raktatāattraction to the objects of the senses
यत्र सा तनुताम् एतिyatra sā tanutām etiwhere it becomes thin
प्रोच्यते तनु-मानसीprocyate tanu-mānasīis called thinning of the mind
Translation
"Where, by examination and good desire, attraction to the objects of the senses becomes thin, that is called thinning of the mind."
Version
993fc0ad2fef · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the word tanuta, "thinness, thinning," from tanu, "thin, slender." The image is drawn from a thread growing ever thinner until it breaks; and this word is more precise than "destruction." Attraction is not severed, but thinned; and this description is truer, for everyone knows a severed attraction returns, while a thinned one simply stops holding.
The Vaishnava side accepts this image and states the same through anartha-nivritti, "the diminishing of hindrances," discussed when reading the Yajnavalkya (12): hindrances diminish one by one and gradually, not falling away all at once. Let us add what it adds here, and which constitutes its distinctive feature. Here the thinning is produced by vicharana and shubheccha, that is, by examination and intention; that is, by working on the attraction itself.
For it, thinning is produced by another attraction; and the Gita's verse 2.59, cited when reading verse twenty-seven, speaks exactly of this: objects retreat even from the fasting one, but rasa, the taste, remains, and departs only param drishtva, "having seen the Highest." The difference here is decisive and easily verified on oneself: an attraction thinned by reasoning thins only while one reasons; an attraction displaced by something better requires no support.