Upaniṣads · Muṇḍaka 1.2.8
॥
Devanāgarī
अविद्यायाम् अन्तरे वर्तमानाः स्वयं धीराः पण्डितम् मन्यमानाः ।
जङ्घन्यमानाः परियन्ति मूढाः अन्धेन एव नीयमानाः यथा अन्धाः ॥
Transliteración (IAST)
avidyāyām antare vartamānāḥ svayaṃ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitam manyamānāḥ |
jaṅghanyamānāḥ pariyanti mūḍhāḥ andhena eva nīyamānāḥ yathā andhāḥ ||
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अविद्यायाम्avidyāyāmin ignorance; in avidyā
अन्तरेantarewithin; in the midst
वर्तमानाःvartamānāḥstagnating (from √vṛt); abiding; living
स्वयम्svayamthemselves; himself
धीराःdhīrāḥwise; intelligent
पण्डितम्paṇḍitamlearned; experts
मन्यमानाःmanyamānāḥfancying themselves (from √man); imagining; reckoning themselves
जङ्घन्यमानाःjaṅghanyamānāḥbeaten again and again (intensive of √han — 'to strike'); buffeted [by miseries]; tormented by blows
परियन्तिpariyantiwander in circles (pari-√i); go round; move in a ring
मूढाःmūḍhāḥthe deluded; fools
अन्धेन एवandhena evaby a blind man indeed; by one who is blind
नीयमानाःnīyamānāḥled (from √nī); guided; conducted
यथाyathāhow; like
अन्धाःandhāḥthe blind; the sightless
Traducción
Stagnating in ignorance, fancying themselves wise and learned, fools wander, beaten [by misfortunes] — like the blind led by the blind.
Versión
ec4e25f297be · publicado 26 jul 2026, 20:10:40 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
A verse the Muṇḍaka shares with the Kaṭha (1.2.5) — a portrait of self-satisfied ignorance which the tradition thought fit to pronounce twice: avidyāyām antare vartamānāḥ — "abiding within ignorance" as in their native element; svayaṁ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitam manyamānāḥ — "themselves fancying themselves wise and learned": the calamity squared — an ignorance certain of its own wisdom is locked from the inside.
One word here differs from the Kaṭha's text — and it is more terrible: instead of dandramyamāṇāḥ ("staggering about") there is jaṅghanyamānāḥ: "beaten, struck again and again" (an intensive of √han — "to strike"): life pounds those who go in circles — with losses, illnesses, the wreck of hopes — but the blows do not teach, for they are interpreted within the same blindness: "bad luck", "next time it will work". Suffering is a teacher only for one ready to learn; for the rest it is merely weather.
andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ — "like the blind led by one who is blind": in the Muṇḍaka's context the point is aimed at blind guides in religion: ritualists who do not know the Imperishable, leading the trusting — into the pit of repeated deaths. Hence the strictness of verse 21 about the choice of a guide: a teacher's sight is a matter of life, and of more lives than one.