Upaniṣads · Muṇḍaka 1.2.9
॥
Devanāgarī
अविद्यायां बहुधा वर्तमानाः वयं कृतार्थाः इति अभिमन्यन्ति बालाः ।
यत् कर्मिणः न प्रवेदयन्ति रागात् तेन आतुराः क्षीणलोकाः च्यवन्ते ॥
Transliteración (IAST)
avidyāyāṃ bahudhā vartamānāḥ vayaṃ kṛtārthāḥ iti abhimanyanti bālāḥ |
yat karmiṇaḥ na pravedayanti rāgāt tena āturāḥ kṣīṇalokāḥ cyavante ||
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अविद्यायाम्avidyāyāmin ignorance; in avidyā
बहुधाbahudhāin manifold ways; by many means
वर्तमानाःvartamānāḥbeing situated; living
वयम्vayamwe; we indeed
कृतार्थाःkṛtārthāḥhaving accomplished their aim (kṛta-artha — 'whose purpose is done'); having fulfilled [everything]; self-fulfilled
इतिitithus; thinking
अभिमन्यन्तिabhimanyantithey fancy (abhi-√man); they imagine; they presumptuously suppose
बालाःbālāḥthe immature; children in spirit
यत्yatinasmuch as; what
कर्मिणःkarmiṇaḥthe performers of rites (karmin); the men of karma; the ritualists
नnanot; no
प्रवेदयन्तिpravedayantithey know; they understand [it to be]
रागात्rāgātbecause of attachment (rāga — 'colouring, passion'); out of partiality; from craving [for fruits]
तेनtenatherefore; by this
आतुराःāturāḥafflicted (ātura — 'sick'); tormented; suffering
क्षीणलोकाःkṣīṇalokāḥwith their worlds exhausted (kṣīṇa-loka); whose worlds have run out; having spent the [earned] worlds
च्यवन्तेcyavantethey fall (from √cyu — 'to drop away'); they sink down; they tumble down
Traducción
Stagnating in ignorance in manifold ways, "we have accomplished our aim!" — so the immature fancy. For attachment [to fruits] does not let the performers of rites see clearly — and therefore, afflicted, they fall when their [earned] worlds are exhausted.
Versión
ec8ba17e0a38 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 20:10:40 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The psychology of contentment: vayaṁ kṛtārthā iti abhimanyanti bālāḥ — "'we have accomplished our aim' — so children imagine": kṛta-artha means "one whose business is done", the spiritually "fulfilled": the feeling of religious completion — the rites performed, the fasts kept, the priests paid — the receipt obtained. The Upaniṣad calls this childhood (bālāḥ): a child takes a game for life and counters for money.
The root is named precisely: rāgāt — "because of attachment": yat karmiṇo na pravedayanti — "the performers of rites do not see clearly" not from any want of intelligence but from rāga, the tinting of the heart by fruits: the desire for pleasure bribes the reason, and the reason obligingly declares the desired to be the highest. It is not the intellect that decides what a man will take for truth — it is the taste of the heart; hence the purifying of desires is a condition of even thinking about the highest.
tenāturāḥ kṣīṇa-lokāś cyavante — "therefore, afflicted, with their worlds exhausted, they fall" (√cyu — "to drop away"): heavenly pleasure ends in anguish — āturāḥ, "sick, tormented": as his merit runs out, the dweller in paradise is already ill with the presentiment of his fall. A heaven with an expiry date is a refined form of suffering; the Gītā (8.16) confirms it: ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartinaḥ — "all worlds, up to the abode of Brahmā, are worlds of return".