LinuxPasar páginas
Upaniṣads · Muktikā 2.40
॥
Devanāgarī
तावन्निशीव वेताला वल्गन्ति हृदि वासनाः । एकतत्त्वदृढाभ्यासाद्यावन्न विजितं मनः
Transliteración (IAST)
tāvanniśīva vetālā valganti hṛdi vāsanāḥ | ekatattvadṛḍhābhyāsādyāvanna vijitaṃ manaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
तावत् निशि इव वेतालाःtāvat niśi iva vetālāḥso long, as at night, like ghouls
वल्गन्ति हृदि वासनाःvalganti hṛdi vāsanāḥhabits leap about in the heart
एक-तत्त्व-दृढ-अभ्यासात्eka-tattva-dṛḍha-abhyāsātfrom firm practice of a single truth
यावत् न विजितं मनःyāvat na vijitaṃ manaḥas long as the mind is not conquered
Traducción
«So long as, through firm practice of a single truth, the mind is not conquered, habits leap about in the heart, like ghouls at night».
Versión
04bc10dd2d28 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
A comparison strong and vivid is given: niśīva vetālāḥ valganti, «leap about, like ghouls at night». A vetāla is a kind of spirit that inhabits dead bodies; it was spoken of at Gāruḍa (2.16), where they stood in a list of things warded against. Worth noting that the comparison chosen is nocturnal.
Ghouls leap in the dark; and with dawn they are gone — not because they were driven off, but because it has grown light. That is, habits are named a begetting of darkness, not an independent power. This image, I think, is good and agrees with what was said at Mahāvākya (p8): one does not fight darkness, one dispels it; and a person warring with his own faults wars with an absence.
Add what is said of the means: eka-tattva-dṛḍhābhyāsāt, «from firm practice in a single truth». Worth noting the word eka, «one». That is, it is not the quantity of practices that wins but the singleness of the object; and this agrees with what was said at the twenty-fifth verse: the mind rushes about not from scatter but from what it pursues.
The Vaishnava side holds precisely this: its eka-tattva is a person, not a proposition; and it was said at Varāha (2.80) that if the mind is given something that holds it, it will hold the senses.